It's Destiny
by Irlynn
Summary: Hikaru desperately chases after Akira to show him the ‘real’ him,someone has been practicing endlessly to catch up to Akira.For many years,Mizuno worked hard to improve her Go in Korea,and has finally come back to show Akira her improvement.MarySuenessXS
1. Arrival

It's Destiny

So… here's my debut for a HnG fiction. Apparently, I like adding in my own OCs, so if you don't like it, then don't read it. I don't think there's really going to be any pairings seeing as how I can't imagine any of them being paired up. If I'm gonna add in some pairings then I'll let you people know.

Summary: Integrated in the storyline of HnG series so there are spoilers. And as for writing out Go games, that's just impossible for me, so bear with the crappy and technical term less games that I will write. While Hikaru desperately chases after Akira, and show him the 'real' him and not his 'shadow,' there is another who has been practicing endlessly to catch up to Akira. For many years, Mizuno has worked hard to improve her Go in the foreign country she moved to with her parents. Finally, she was allowed to return Japan to achieve her dream of beating Akira the Go prodigy. Her parents sent her to stay with her relatives, the Fujisaki family, namely Akari and her parents.

Disclaimer: If I owned HnG, then there'd be a sequel, but I don't, so I can only fantasize.

Chapter 1: Arrival

As she walked on out the doors of the airport to the waiting area, Mizuno looked around to find a glimpse of her aunt and her cousin Akari. She sighed as she moved her suitcase on its side and sat on it. She had received a phone call from her cousin just a bit earlier on when she was checking in with customs, Akari had sounded really eager to go and pick her up from the airport, seeing as it was the first time that she would meet her cousin. Mizuno was looking forward to meet her cousin as well, but there was only one problem so far, they were late. She sighed once again as she stared listlessly at the passing vehicles coming to pick up the other arrivals. A silver car passed by and stopped just a few feet away from where she sat, and from in the car a boy around her age with bleached bangs climbed out. He looked around as if looking for someone and finally his gaze landed on her and he walked over quite cautiously and tapped Mizuno on the shoulder. Mizuno looked up at the boy standing in front of her questioningly.

"Yes?" she asked, not quite sure what the boy would want with her.

"Are you Shiina Mizuno?" the boy asked quite unsure.

"Yeah, that's me," Mizuno answered, surprised and cautious at the same time, "Why?"

The sighed a breath of relief and instantly brightened up, "I'm Shindou Hikaru. I'm Akari's friend. Sorry that she couldn't come to greet you herself, but she sprained her ankle just a bit ago so she can't get off the car."

"Oh, nice to meet you," Mizuno nodded understandingly. "I'm Shiina Mizuno. Yoroshiku."

"Follow me," Hikaru said as he led the way to the car. He hauled her suitcase to the trunk and dumped it in, closing the back shut. "Okay, you can get in you know."

Mizuno nodded and got in the back beside a burgundy haired girl around her age. The girl looked over at her and smiled, saying, "Shiina Mizuno right? I'm Akari! It's really nice meeting you cousin Mizuno!"

"Um… yoroshiku," Mizuno replied as she put her seatbelt on and leaned back into the seat.

"Welcome to Japan, Mizuno," said Akari's mother from the front as she looked back at her niece. "We hope you enjoy your stay here."

"Okay Obasan, we're ready to go," said Hikaru as he got into the front passenger seat and put his seatbelt on. He then turned his head back to face Mizuno. "You know, Akari's been really enthusiastic about your coming. She's been getting your room ready for you ever since she heard the news and she wouldn't stop talking about it either."

Akari blushed and hit Hikaru upside the head, "Hey! She's my cousin that I haven't met before, of course I'd be excited."

Mizuno stayed quiet the entire time watching the two friends argue non-stop. Finally, she interrupted and asked, "So, what is Haze Middle School like?"

"It's a really great place!" Akari said happily, glad that her cousin said something. "You'll love it there!"

"What's it like?" Mizuno asked.

"Well, the teachers and students there are pretty nice and everyone helps out," Akari described, "But there are some bullies too that you should watch out for."

"What about clubs?" Mizuno asked again, "Are you in one?"

"There are a lot of clubs at our school," Akari answered again.

"There are the athletic clubs, the academic clubs and then some other clubs to do with games," Hikaru listed off the categories for the different clubs.

"Hikaru and I are in the Go club!" Akari said proudly. She then stopped and looked over at Mizuno, "Do you know what Go is?"

"Sure, I guess you can say that Go is a pastime for me," Mizuno laughed.

"Oh! Do you want to join the club? We just need one more girl for the girls team to enter in the middle school Go competition," Akari said excitedly.

"Sure, I guess I can join you Go club," Mizuno said, "But as for the competition, I don't think I want to join that. The intensity of competitions scare me."

"Oh, okay, but if you change your mind about the competition, then just tell me," said Akari, still smiling.

"Hey, how strong are you?" Hikaru asked Mizuno. "How about playing a game with me?"

"Well, I don't think that I'm that strong," Mizuno said slowly, "But sure, I'll play you."

"Come on over to the Go club after school and we'll have a game," Hikaru said as he turned back around to face the front.

The following day at school Mizuno walked into the class to find herself to have been placed in the same class as Hikaru. The teacher called for her to enter and she did so.

"Well, class this is a new student to our class be sure to be nice to her," the teacher said to the class then motioned for Mizuno to introduce herself.

Mizuno bowed to the class before she started speaking. "I'm Shiina Mizuno. I came from Korea. It's really nice to meet you all."

The she was assigned to sit two seats away from Hikaru, beside the window. After classes were over, Hikaru walked on over to Mizuno's seat and just stood there waiting for her to place her books into her book bag. Akari barged into the classroom, found Mizuno, and waited for her as well. When Mizuno placed all her books into the bag, she got up and followed Akari and Hikaru over to the science class where the Go club was located.

As soon as they entered, Tsutsui, the club president, Yuki Mitani and one of Akari's friends, greeted them. They all looked up to see who had come in the door and greeted Hikaru and Akari.

"Hi Akari!" said Akari's friend. (AN: someone wanna tell me her name?)

"Hey, Shindou, you improved your game yet?" Yuki asked Hikaru.

"Hey Mitani," Hikaru replied to Yuki.

"Who's that? A new member perhaps?" Tsutsui asked as he saw Mizuno still standing in the doorway.

"Oh, this is Shiina Mizuno," Akari said as she rushed over to her cousin, "She's my cousin and just moved here. She said she'd be happy to join the Go club."

"That's great," Tsutsui said, smiling at Mizuno. "You're very welcome here Shiina-san."

"Yoroshiku-onegaishimasu," Mizuno said, bowing her head to the club members, "I'm sure I'll have fun in this club."

Mizuno looked around and saw that there were only three Go boards and one with legs that looked very old and battered. She went on over to inspect the pieces to everyone's surprise. She reached for the very old looking one, took one of the pieces out, and looked at it. Finally she said, "They kinda look old and in bad condition."

"Well, yeah, our club is kinda under funded," Tsutsui said a bit embarrassed about the condition the board and pieces were in.

"Oh well," Mizuno said as she put the piece back down into its respective bowl. She looked up at the president, "So this is the famous Go club of Haze Middle School."

"Mizuno!" Akari reprimanded her cousin, "Don't be so harsh. It's just that not a lot of people like Go here that's all."

"Okay, okay," Mizuno said, putting her hands in front of her in defense.

"So, have you had any experience with playing Go?" Tsutsui asked Mizuno as he prepared his Go book to start teaching.

"Yup, of course I have," Mizuno answered brightly, "I started playing Go a while ago."

"Well, that's good, we don't have to go over the confusing basics beginners have trouble with," Tsutsui laughed a bit. He flipped his book open to a page with an easy problem and placed the pieces onto the board. "Let's just have a test to see how good your play is."

Klak. Klak. Klak. Klak.

The three black stones and one white stone hit the Go board in a basic capture the stone problem. Tsutsui looked up at Mizuno and said, "Now capture the whi—"

"Done," Mizuno said as she looked back up at Tsutsui, waiting for the next question.

Tsutsui was baffled as he looked at Mizuno. He hadn't expected for Mizuno to know what to do, but then again she did say she had been playing for some time, so it was kinda expected. He flipped through the book some more and then came to a harder question and placed the stones onto the board once again.

Klak. Klak. Klak. Klak. Klak. Klak. Klak. Klak.

"Now, try this one," said Tsutsui, "How do you not get black captured?"

"You don't," Mizuno said, looking at Tsutsui with a look that said 'Are you kidding me? This is way too easy.'

"Then what do you propose should be done?" Tsutsui asked.

"You leave it and sacrifice a few stones to attack another part of the board," Mizuno said, "Unless you counter the ladder in another way."

"Well, you seem to be unable to be fooled by the ladder trap," Tsutsui commented. "That's already pretty good."

"Well, I've been playing for a while," Mizuno said, "So I guess that I've seen this kind of trap come up before."

"Do you want to play a game with one of us?" Tsutsui asked Mizuno.

"Sure, I already promised to play a game with Shindou already," Mizuno smiled.

"Okay, alright," said Tsutsui, he looked over to see that Hikaru was still in a game with Yuki and turned back to Mizuno. "I guess you'll have to wait. It seems that Shindou-kun is still playing against Mitani-kun," Tsutsui said as he pushed his glasses up. "In the meantime, would you like to play a game against me?"

"Sure," said Mizuno, smiling as she cleared the board of the pieces. She timidly looked up at Tsutsui and asked, "Um… I still haven't learned your name yet."

"Oh, it's Tsutsui, I'm in my second year," Tsutsui introduced himself.

"Oh, okay," said Mizuno. "You must be pretty strong right?"

"Oh, no, not at all," said Tsutsui, he pointed over to where Yuki was playing against Hikaru, "Mitani-kun is the strongest player we have in our club."

"Oh, okay," said Mizuno as she bowed her head and said, "Onegaishimasu."

Tsutsui did likewise, and the two started the game. Mizuno was black and went first, playing in the top right star corner. Tsutsui played the second move in the opposite to where Mizuno played her move, and so the game went on.

Well, I hope the debut of my HnG fiction is seemingly realistic, because I tend to go unrealistic in the later chapters due to my fetish with over writing and going overboard with the randomness.


	2. Play Go

It's Destiny

So… What did you think of the first chapter? Apparently, I like adding in my own OCs, so if you don't like it, then don't read it. I still don't think there's really going to be any pairings. If I'm gonna add in some pairings then I'll let you people know.

Summary: Integrated in the storyline of HnG series so there are spoilers. And as for writing out Go games, that's just impossible for me, so bear with the crappy and technical term less games that I will write. While Hikaru desperately chases after Akira, and show him the 'real' him and not his 'shadow,' there is another who has been practicing endlessly to catch up to Akira. For many years, Mizuno has worked hard to improve her Go in the foreign country she moved to with her parents. Finally, she was allowed to return Japan to achieve her dream of beating Akira the Go prodigy. Her parents sent her to stay with her relatives, the Fujisaki family, namely Akari and her parents.

Disclaimer: If I owned HnG, then there'd be a sequel, but I don't, so I can only fantasize.

Chapter 2: Play Go

Hikaru counted up the last of his points after his game with Yuki, to determine the winner of the game. "20, 30, 40… 48," he finished counting and sighed, "48 moku, what about you Yuki?"

"60 moku," Yuki replied, "I win by 12 moku."

"Aww… I still can't beat you," Hikaru complained as he started to clean up his pieces and place them back into their respective bowl. He looked back up at Yuki, "But I promise that one day I'll beat you!"

"Yeah, yeah, gloat all you want after you win," Yuki said as he placed his pieces into their bowl as well. He looked back up to see that Tsutsui was playing a game with the new girl, Mizuno. He walked over to see how the game was going, motioning for Hikaru to watch as well. "Let's see how your new friend's play is."

The two boys got up and went over to watch Tsutsui and Mizuno's game. When they saw the game on the board, it was clearly obvious to the both of them that black was winning. Yuki and Hikaru both looked over at Tsutsui's face, to see how he was faring in a losing game. They were surprised to see that Tsutsui was still holding up pretty well, except for the worried look in his eyes and the sweat dripping down his face. He may still look calm and concentrated on the game, looking for a way out, or waiting for Mizuno to make a mistake. It wouldn't be long before he resigns the two concluded after looking at the board one more time.

Then the two looked over at Mizuno to see how her reaction to the game was. She was just as concentrated as Tsutsui was with the game, staring right at the game on the board, but instead of worry, there was determination in her eyes. After another few more both between the two of them, Tsutsui finally bowed his head in defeat.

"I resign," he said, it was heard loud and clear in the entire room. There was an awkward silence before the sound of the stones being shuffled around was heard. Mizuno was clearing up to board quietly, not looking up at Tsutsui or anyone else in the room.

"That was a great game Tsutsui," Hikaru commented, patting Tsutsui on the back, "That was the first I've ever seen you that concentrated on a game. It was amazing."

Tsutsui looked up at Hikaru and smiled faintly, "Thanks Shindou-kun."

The he looked over at the quiet Mizuno and smiled at her saying, "That was a really great game Shiina-san. You're quite a strong player. I think you're even evenly matched with Mitani-kun."

"Um… thanks," Mizuno said, not really knowing what to say. She didn't mean to beat him up that badly for him to get depressed about it. "I guess I should be sorry for being so hard on you."

"No, no, then that would have been kinda rude towards your opponent," said Tsutsui, waving his hands around frantically to convince Mizuno that she did the right thing, "and towards everyone else to for you to hold back your true strength."

"Well…I guess," said Mizuno, not really sure how to respond to that comment. After all, she WAS holding back her strength, by a long shot.

"Aww man, if Tsutsui-senpai says that Mizuno's evenly matched with Yuki then that means that I can win against her either!" Hikaru complained loudly.

"No, not unless you use that 'special power' of yours to suddenly become a like pro," laughed Tsutsui jokingly.

"Well, let's see then," said Hikaru as he sat down in Tsutsui's spot in front of Mizuno.

"Um… I have a question," Mizuno said, raising her hand up.  
"What is it?" asked Tsutsui, nodding at Mizuno to go ahead and ask.

"Has anyone here heard of an Akira Touya?" asked Mizuno, "He's supposed to be really good at Go."

"Akira Touya? Of course we've heard of him," said Tsutsui, "It's all Shindou-kun ever talks about."

"He claims that Touya is his rival and that he'll one day beat the crap out of that guy," Yuki filled in for Mizuno.

"Akira's rival?" Mizuno repeated and looked over at Hikaru, she sighed, "Well, I guess he needs one. Hey, has he taken the pro test yet?"

"No, not yet," said Tsutsui, looking surprised at Mizuno's questions about Akira Touya. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I just thought that he would be a good goal for me to reach," said Mizuno, "After all, I still need to get stronger and improve my Go."

"Come on Mizuno!" Hikaru complained, "You promised to play a game with me!"

"Oh, right!" Mizuno laughed uneasily, before she turned back to face Hikaru to play a game with him. She eyed him curiously before asking nervously, "So… do you want any handicaps?"

"Handicaps? Nah…," Hikaru answered, shaking his head, we'll play evenly. He grabbed a handful of stones from out of the bowl and held it in front of Mizuno. To the side, unseen by anyone but Hikaru, Sai watched with interest at the girl. He was only woken from his train of thought when Hikaru asked for him to play the game. Sai at once forgot about the girl as soon as he heard that he was able to play Go with someone. Hikaru smirked at Mizuno as she placed two stones onto the Go board, and he said a bit challengingly, "You'd best keep your guard up Shiina-san, 'cuz I'm not going to be holding back while playing against you."

Mizuno only smiled back in response as Hikaru counted out the number of stones he had grabbed, 8. Mizuno got to go first, meaning she also had to make up for the komi of 5 ½ moku. Mizuno replaced her stones back into the bowl and bowed her head, "Onegaishimasu."

Hikaru did so likewise, and the game started, with Mizuno placing the stone at 15-7. Hikaru just sat there, looking at the board, waiting for Sai to tell him which move to play first. After about five minutes of waiting, Mizuno looked up at Hikaru questioningly.

"Shindou?" she asked inquiringly, "Are you done thinking?"

Hikaru did not look up at her, as he faked thinking and hurrying Sai in making the second move on the board. Finally, after another minute, Sai gave his move and Hikaru placed the stone on the right spot on the board. Throughout the entire time of the game, there were many instances where Sai stopped and took longer then usual to give his move to Hikaru to play. Just halfway through the game, Mizuno noticed the strength in Hikaru's Go and immediately resigned.

"I resign," Mizuno said reluctantly. She knew that if she had wanted to play any longer, then the true strength of her Go would be realized and she really didn't have the heart to play all out at the time. Not especially if she just returned to Japan and it was officially her first full day there.

"Your play was really excellent," complimented Tsutsui, then he turned to Hikaru, "But you Shindou-kun, that amazing go play you just had with Shiina-san was just the kind of strength that you used while at the team tournaments!"

"Well, it comes and goes," Hikaru laughed nervously, his hand behind his head. His expression changed as he turned to ask Sai about Mizuno's level of play.

'_Sai, how was Shiina's play?"_ Hikaru asked Sai quietly in the reserves of his mind.

"_She is an excellent player," _Sai answered, his gaze fixed on Mizuno_, "Her play is very exceptional. It is too bad that she had to resign in the middle game. It is true what your senpai said about her. She is very strong, but much stronger than Mitani's level. I think that she may have been hiding her true strength, but for whatever reasons, I do not know."_

"_Really?" _Hikaru asked, looking at Mizuno quietly putting the stones away into the bowl. She showed no signs of defeat, thought or… anything at all that would give away what she was thinking or feeling.

"Hey, Shiina," Hikaru said, "Do you know exactly how strong you are? Like what level?"

Mizuno looked uneasy for a split second before she answered quite timidly, "Well, I guess I would be 10 k?"

She looked down again, her face red. She quickly mumbled a short sorry, "I'm sorry, I guess it's because I never bothered to test how strong I am. I pretty much play Go as a hobby."

Hikaru looked surprised, 10 k? That was stronger than he currently was, and that was saying a lot. He mentally asked Sai to confirm whether Mizuno was really that strong. What he got for an answer surprised him even further.

"_No, Hikaru, this Shiina Mizuno is much stronger than a 10 K player, like I had said before, she may be hiding her true strength from me. If she is indeed, then her level just may be on par with Toya Akira's level."_

"Well, I think you're much stronger than that," Hikaru said out loud, smiling brightly at Mizuno. Mizuno just stared at him, had he seen through her façade? Or maybe it was just a compliment.

"Um… thank you?" Mizuno replied to Hikaru's comment.

"I just have this feeling that I've seen you somewhere before though," Tsutsui said as he stared right at Mizuno, "You really do look familiar. Have you ever been to a Go bookstore, or any library before school today?"

"No, I haven't," Mizuno said, confused, why would Tsutsui think he saw her before, unless… Mizuno's eyes went wide as she realized one problem. The Go world in Japan also had a section in the Go Weekly or in the Go News about foreign Go players, and she was interviewed when it was announced that she would be moving to Japan to study. She was known as one of Korea's Go prodigies, and for Korea to lose a prodigy as herself to Japan was a huge loss indeed. Now they could only rely on the country's other Go prodigy, Ko YeongHa.

"But I'm pretty sure…" Tsutsui said, thinking hard.

"Come on, you probably saw some girl that looked like Shiina," Yuki said in an irritated tone. He looked over at Hikaru and said in the same irritated tone, "Oi, Shindou! Are you ever going to put your stones away?"

Hikaru looked down to see his stones still on the Go board and laughed from embarrassment before moving to put his stones back into their respective bowl.

"So, you up for a game against me?" Yuki asked as he pointed at himself with his thumb.

"Um… I guess that's fine," said Mizuno slowly.

"Oh come on! Why can't you just play against Hikaru?" Akari complained, "She's my cousin after all, and you guys are all hogging her." Yuki only stared hard at Akari.

"Oh come on Akari, it's just one more game," Mizuno tried to calm down Akari, "Besides, we can play at home."

"Fine," Akari humphed as she sat down beside Mizuno, pouting. Before Yuki and Mizuno could start to play however, the door to the Go club opened and there stood a girl with short khaki brown hair and a slightly chubby face.

Well, this is the very much-butchered chapter two. I might have gone way off here, but this is the best I can do if I continue to type non-stop.


	3. Onward!

It's Destiny

So… What did you think of the second chapter? It's kinda screwed up near the end, and I did try to fix it. Apparently, I like adding in my own OCs, so if you don't like it, then don't read it. I still don't think there's really going to be any pairings. If I'm gonna add in some pairings then I'll let you people know.

Summary: Integrated in the storyline of HnG series so there are spoilers. And as for writing out Go games, that's just impossible for me, so bear with the crappy and technical term less games that I will write. While Hikaru desperately chases after Akira, and show him the 'real' him and not his 'shadow,' there is another who has been practicing endlessly to catch up to Akira. For many years, Mizuno has worked hard to improve her Go in the foreign country she moved to with her parents. Finally, she was allowed to return Japan to achieve her dream of beating Akira the Go prodigy. Her parents sent her to stay with her relatives, the Fujisaki family.

Disclaimer: If I owned HnG, then there'd be a sequel, but I don't, so I can only fantasize.

Chapter 3: Onward!

"Kaneko-san!" Akari cheered up as she saw her, "Is volleyball practice over?"

"Yeah, practice was over early today, so I thought that I could head over and catch up on my Go skills," Kaneko explained as she stretched her arms around in a circle. She looked around the go club and saw that there was a new member in there, and a girl to boot too! Kaneko pointed at Mizuno and asked, "Who's she?"

"Oh, this is Shiina Mizuno," Akari introduced away happily, gesturing at Mizuno, "She's my cousin, and she said she would join the Go club!"

"Shiina Mizuno eh?" Kaneko repeated after Akari's introduction, "So, you know how to play go?"

"Um… yes," Mizuno answered slightly intimidated by Kaneko.

"Wanna play a game against me?" Kaneko said, smiling at her.

"Um… okay," Mizuno agreed as she got up and pulled another board out and placed it beside the first board. She then went and retrieved the stones for the second go board and placed it on top of the board.

"Um… Mizuno, what are you doing?" Akari asked as she watched her cousin with question in her eyes.

"Huh?" Mizuno looked confused, "I thought that it would be faster if… well…"

"You wanted to play two people at one time?" Kaneko filled in for Mizuno. Mizuno only nodded, her head hanging down in embarrassment.

"Who else are you playing?" Kaneko asked Mizuno pointedly.

"Um… Mitani-san," Mizuno answered, pointing over at Yuki.

"Ah… picking on the new member now are we?" Kaneko said quite thoughtfully.

"Who says I was picking on her?!" Yuki yelled at Kaneko.

"Well, why else would you play against her?" Kaneko smirked. She was obviously winning this verbal fight.

"Ah! Kaneko-san! Mitani-kun! Please stop fighting!" Akari yelled, trying her best to get the two to stop their verbal fight. They finally calmed down after a while and both glared at each other before turning to look at Akari expectantly.

"What is it Fujisaki-san?" Kaneko asked Akari.

"Well, Tsutsui-senpai and Hikaru both said that Mizuno is pretty strong, so Mitani-kun wanted to test his strength against her," Akari explained all in one breath.

"Well then, that's a totally different thing now," said Kaneko as she looked over at Mizuno. "How strong are you?"

"I don't know exactly," Mizuno answered apologetically, "In Korea I just played for fun, and I didn't really ask about what my level would be."

"A Korean Go player? Now this will be fun," said Kaneko, pulling her sleeves up, "I always wanted to try my hand at playing against go players from other countries."

"Why?" asked Mizuno.

"To see how strong the other countries are," Kaneko answered simply. "And to see the style they play in."

"I'm sure that everyone has their own style that they play in," Mizuno replied to Kaneko's comment.

"So let's play," said Kaneko, taking a bowl of go stones in front of her.

"Hey! I was first!" Yuki cried at Kaneko, "You go after!"

"Yeah, but I'm the one sitting on the seat in front of the go board right now, so it makes more sense for me to be playing against Shiina right now," Kaneko retorted to Yuki.

"But I was to one who asked first!" Yuki continued to rant at Kaneko.

"Um… I guess I can try and play against both of you all at once," Mizuno said just loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Nah, then you'll just make mistakes like that," said Kaneko. "Not a good idea."

"Or, maybe you two can play her next time," Tsutsui said, cutting in. "It's time for you all to go home now anyway."

"Oh, then I guess I'll play you two next meeting then?" Mizuno said, standing up and folding the boards away and handed them over to Tsutsui who put them back into the shelf beside the window. Next, Mizuno passed the tightly shut go bowls over to Akari and Hikaru who put them away as well beside the go boards.

"Well, good bye everyone," Mizuno and Akari said, bowing to the rest of the go club members as the two of them and Hikaru walked on home.

On the way back, Akari started chatting with Mizuno on how they would play some go games as soon as they got home. Akari's antics just caused both Mizuno and Hikaru laugh, both for different reasons.

"Akari, I never knew you would like go so much," Hikaru said knowingly. "Didn't you say it was boring?"

"But–! That was before! Now I think it's fun!" Akari hurriedly said back to Hikaru.

"Sure…," Hikaru said teasingly.

"Humph!" Akari turned back to talk to Mizuno, "So you promise to play a game with me?"

"I don't know," Mizuno said, "We still have to finished unpacking my stuff and getting things in order, and then there's still homework to be done as well. We'll see how we do with time then we can play a game if it's not too late."

"Aw…" Akari whined gloomily, "I really wanted to play a game against you today."

"Well, at least we can play tomorrow," smiled Mizuno, trying to cheer up Akari.

"I have a Go class tomorrow," Akari said, then she brightened up, "Maybe I can play a game against you during class then!"

"Okay, it's a promise!" Mizuno said, smiling as they finally reached home.

"See you on Monday Hikaru!" Akari and Mizuno both said as they waved Hikaru good bye.

The next afternoon, Akari went over to wake her cousin Mizuno from her slumber. It was a wonder how Mizuno could sleep until the afternoon, but then again it may be jet lag, and Mizuno may not have gotten used to the Japan time yet.

"Mizuno!" Akari cried as she went upstairs to her cousin's room, which was the guest room. "Time to get up! We have to get to the Go class now!"

"I'm up! I'm up!" Mizuno's sleep filled voice vibrated through the door and some scuffling sounds were heard as Mizuno fumbled with the bed covers. Moments later, Mizuno appeared at the door, all dressed, but her hair was still in a bit of a mess.

"You look like you didn't get much sleep," Akari commented, looking at her cousin's baggy eyes.

"You wouldn't get much sleep either if you had a cousin who was up most of the night talking on the phone and you can hear everything she was saying just because the walls are thin enough for it," Mizuno said all in one long breath, panting heavily at the end. (AN: For those who don't know, she's referring to Akari's older sister.)

"Was she really talking that loud?" Akari asked going over to fix Mizuno's messed up hair.

"You're three bedrooms away from her, so you wouldn't hear it," Mizuno said, yawning.

"Well, you'd better get something to eat, 'cuz we have to leave in fifteen minutes," Akari said looking at the time on her watch as she finished brushing out Mizuno's hair for her.

"Thanks," Mizuno said as she tied it up in a quick ponytail. She raced downstairs to the kitchen to grab something to eat. She ended up with eating instant ramen at mach speed, downing the entire bowl within mouthfuls.

"I swear, when I see you eat that, I'm going to be reminded of Hikaru now," Akari commented from the side.

"…" Mizuno didn't know what to say back to her. When she finished, she threw the trash away and washed the chopsticks, and grabbing a bottle of water with her. "Okay, let's go."

The two of them made it to the train station just a few minutes before the train arrived. After getting off at the right station, Akari led Mizuno to her Go class, the same one that Hikaru used to go to.

"Here, this is it," said Akari as they entered the building. "The teacher, Shirakawa-sensei is really nice too."

"Ah! Fujisaki-san! Welcome back!" said a brown hair man with glasses, and wearing a suit. He noticed the girl beside Akari and looked at her questioningly, "And this is…?"

"Ah! Shirakawa-sensei!" Akari said, bowing politely in greeting, "This is my cousin Shiina Mizuno, she's here to participate in the class too."

"Welcome Shiina-san," Shirakawa said to Mizuno, "We welcome anyone who has an interest in Go to this class."

"Um… nice to meet you Shirakawa-sensei," Mizuno said to Shirakawa. It was weird for her to be saying the sensei part of the title, since she herself was a called a sensei by many of the people she had a taught Go back in Korea.

"Well, why don't you two have a seat? I'll come by later to see how you two are doing," said Shirakawa as he walked into the classroom to begin class. Akari pulled Mizuno over to the front of the class by the windows where it was nice and bright. Akari sat down on one of the chairs while Mizuno sat down on the chair beside her.

After Shirakawa's lesson, the people in the class started to play games except Mizuno. She sat on the side watching Akari play a game with Agota. Shirakawa walked around a bit before detouring back to where Mizuno was sitting beside Akari and watching Akari's game.

"How do you like this class so far Shiina-san?" Shirakawa asked Mizuno.

"I think it's pretty interesting," Mizuno answered, as she turned to face Shirakawa.

"Now, have you ever played Go before?" Shirakawa asked Mizuno.

"Yes, I've had quite a few games yesterday," Mizuno smiled.

"Mizuno is a pretty strong player!" Akari said excitedly, turning her attention away from the game she was playing with Agota.

"Oh, then you know how to play pretty well then," Shirakawa said, "That's good. Would like to watch the other players or would you like to play a game with someone?"

"I think I'll watch Akari's game for now," said Mizuno, "Then I'll play someone later."

"I'll play a game with you later," Agota offered, looking up from the board as well.

"Okay!" Mizuno answered brightly, "That'd be great!"

And this will be the third chapter. I hope you won't sue me for making Mizuno one hell of a Go player. She's already a Korean Pro Go player and is a 3 dan as well. It was said that Akira could've taken the exam earlier, but he didn't. In this case, Mizuno took the pro exam in the same year that Akira was ready for the exam, but never took. This will explain why she's already a 3 dan player.


	4. Go Class

It's Destiny

So… Anyone want to kill me yet? I did try to fix it so it was a bit more realistic. I like adding in my OCs, so if you don't like, then don't read. I don't think there's going to be any pairings. If I'm gonna add in pairings then I'll let you all know.

Summary: Integrated in the storyline of HnG series so there are spoilers. And as for writing out Go games, that's just impossible for me, so bear with the crappy and technical term less games that I will write. While Hikaru desperately chases after Akira, and show him the 'real' him and not his 'shadow,' there is another who has been practicing endlessly to catch up to Akira. For many years, Mizuno has worked hard to improve her Go in the foreign country she moved to with her parents. Finally, she was allowed to return Japan to achieve her dream of beating Akira the Go prodigy. Her parents sent her to stay with her relatives, the Fujisaki family.

Disclaimer: If I owned HnG, then there'd be a sequel, but I don't, so I can only fantasize.

Chapter 4: Go Class

After Agota finished his game with Akari, Mizuno switched spots with her and sat down on Akari's seat, facing Agota. She smiled at Agota and asked, "How strong are you?"

"Pretty strong," Agota answered, "And you little girl?"

"I guess I'm so-so," Mizuno answered, "Back in Korea, I only played when I needed to or as a way to pass time. It's a kind of hobby."

"Oh, then you've played many games then," said Agota, "You can go first."

"Onegaishimasu," Mizuno said, bowing her head. Agota did likewise. Mizuno's first move was set down, and then Agota followed with the second move on the board.

By the end of the game, Shirakawa had walked back to where Mizuno and Agota were playing their game. Shirakawa took a look at Agota's face and found it to be concentrating very hard. It was unusual for the usually calm and confident player to look so immersed and concentrated on a simple game with a new student. Shirakawa walked all the way back to where Mizuno and Agota were and looked down at the game that they were playing. He gasped at the level it was played at. No wonder Agota looked so concentrated, Mizuno's level of play was obviously higher than his own.

"I resign," Agota said silently. The woman beside him gasped as she heard the two words come out of his mouth. She looked over at Agota, eyes wide in astonishment at Agota's resignation. It was unheard of, Agota had never resigned in a game of Go ever in the class for as long as anyone could remember.

Mizuno smiled at Agota and said, "Thanks for the game."

Shirakawa was at a loss for words. This girl in front of him had beaten Agota at a game of Go. Just by doing that showed that the girl was already a pretty strong Go player for an amateur.

"That was a nicely played game Shiina-san," Shirakawa said, then to Agota, "You too Agota-san."

"Thanks," Mizuno replied.

"Tell, me Shiina-san, where did you learn to play Go?" asked Shirakawa.

"Well, I learned in Korea, but started here in Japan," Mizuno answered.

"Where exactly did you learn?" asked Shirakawa, "Did you just practice in Go salons or did you have a teacher?"

"Well, my parents enrolled me in a Go class at the Japan Go Institute when I was really young," Mizuno said, "But I was only there for about an year before we moved to Korea. In Korea I mainly went to Go salons to play from time to time. I didn't really go to any Go salons in the last few years so I think my play might've gotten worse."

"Ah… the Go Institute, and Go salons in Korea," mumbled Shirakawa, "Then you are very familiar with Go then. I think that your level is already pretty high for an amateur."

"Well, I guess," Mizuno said slowly.

"By the way, have I seen you from somewhere before?" Shirakawa asked, rubbing his chin in thought, "I think that I've seen your face somewhere just a few weeks ago or around that time."

"A lot of people have been saying the same thing at school," Akari agreed, "And they all play Go too."

"I just came from Korea just a few days ago," Mizuno said quickly, "But if you find out where you saw me before then tell me."

"Yes, I do believe I've seen you somewhere before too," said the woman next to Agota. She looked thoughtful, "And I think I might know where too."

The woman took out a Go News paper, flipped to a page inside it, stopped, and pointed to the picture. "There!"

"Where?" asked Akari, Shirakawa and Agota as they all went around to see the newspaper.

"Here, it's an ad for a Go Salon with a picture of Shiina-chan holding a Go stone," said the woman, "It says 'Feature Go Player: Shiina Mizuno. Go salon dedicated to young and aspiring go players like our very own Shiina Mizuno.'"

"A go salon ad?" Akari asked, confused. Why would her cousin be in a go salon ad? She turned to Mizuno with a questioning look on her face. The others did the same thing.

"Well, that's the salon that I usually go to, and I usually bring some friends over to play there as well, so it's pretty much all 'young' go players there now," Mizuno explained quite vaguely, skipping out part of the truth.

"But why are you the feature Go player?" asked Akari.

"Well, I was there the longest and that was the salon that pretty much watched me grow up," Mizuno laughed nervously, "Like I said, I used to go very often, excluding the last few years."

"Did you know that you're their feature Go player?" the woman asked.

"Of course, I just didn't expect the ad to be in the Go newspaper," Mizuno scratched the back of her head. "That was what was unexpected."

"Oh," all four said in understanding.

"So… I hear that Toya Akira still hasn't taken the pro exam," Mizuno said, changing the subject.

"Yes, that's right," said Shirakawa.

"He should just take the exam, he could pass easily," Mizuno sighed, "So why bother postponing?"

"I guess he's just not ready to take the exam," Shirakawa said, shrugging.

"Don't you remember what I told you yesterday?" Akari said, "Toya-san wanted to play a game against Hikaru, but Hikaru refused. So he's joining the Go club at his school to play against Hikaru in a tournament."

"Oh," Mizuno nodded, "That's right."

"Well, just remember that," said Akari.

"He should just take the pro exam and face… the challenges that lay ahead," Mizuno complained. "If he doesn't, then it shows that he doesn't realize that there are obstacles ahead of him that are waiting for him to enter the pro world."

"What are you talking about Mizuno?" Akari asked her cousin. Mizuno was being confusing again.

"Well, I'm just saying that there are stronger Go players just waiting for him to make his appearance in the pro world," Mizuno explained, "There are a lot of people waiting for him to enter so they could have a match against him, the famous Go child prodigy."

"Oh," said Akari, looking at her cousin. She thought about something that seemed to be bugging her, "Hey, how would you know that there are people wanting to have a match against him in the pro world?"

"Well, it's because they all want to test out his strength," Mizuno said logically, "Like how Mitani-san wanted to test out my strength yesterday, and Kaneko-san too."

"Oh… is that why?" Akari said in understanding.

"Yes, that's true, I myself would like to see how well young Toya's Go is," Shirakawa agreed with Mizuno's statement.

"And so do I," Mizuno added in.

"You too?" Agota said in disbelief at Mizuno's statement. "Why would you want to compare your level to his? You two are obviously on two different levels."

"Agota-san," Shirakawa reprimanded the older man, "You shouldn—"

"Agota-san, it may not seem like I'm a match with Akira," Mizuno sighed, "But I started playing Go because of him."

"He inspired you to play?" Agota said slightly offhandedly.

"Mizuno! You just called Toya Akira by his given name!" Akari said in a gasp.

"It was spur of the moment," Mizuno said, apologetically to Akari. Then turning to face Agota, "I started to play because he was in the same class I was in when I was enrolled in the Go class. He was always better than everyone else, I so tried harder to become strong as well. It was just after my family moved that I stopped playing to increase my level, and more for fun."

"And that leads to why your Go is still pretty good," Shirakawa concluded.

"Yup, that's about right," Mizuno smiled.

"Well, since you play Go in Korea, do you know any Korean pros or insei?" asked Shirakawa.

"Well, I guess I know some, but not very well," Mizuno said, slowly thinking about the question, "I rarely talk to them, and I'm not particularly that much into the Go world of titles and important matches and all that."

"Ah… that's too bad, if you played or studied with them then you could learn some new things," advised Shirakawa, "It's always nice learning a new thing or two."

"Well, I was invited by one of my insei friends to go to a study session with their teacher," Mizuno said remembering a bit of the boring and tedious session, "I was just falling asleep through the entire thing. It was way too boring for me to stay awake listening to them drone on and on about something that I didn't know."

"Yes, that's usually what happens when an amateur player is invited to a study session where all the players would talk about is different moves that can be played differently in a game to improve that person's Go," Shirakawa explained.

"My friend asked me what I thought about the session and I told him that if that's what the sessions are like then I wouldn't be caught at one soon," Mizuno replied laughing.

"Well, that's good," laughed Shirakawa, "Did you have fun in today's class?"

"Oh, sure!" said Mizuno, smiling, "Go is really fun."

"Well, if you're interested, you can come back any time for classes," Shirakawa said, smiling back at Mizuno.

"Thank you," said Mizuno, "I'll be sure to come back some time."

"Let's go Mizuno," said Akari as she took her bag. Both she and Mizuno bowed towards Shirakawa, "Thank you for today sensei. Sayounara."

As the two of them were walking away from the center, Akari turned and asked Mizuno, "So, how did you like the class?"

"Well, I guess it's okay, but I'm still used to playing in Go salons," answered Mizuno, she brightened up, "Why don't I bring you to a really great Go salon sometime?"

"That'd be awesome!" Akari replied giddily.

"Well, I have to do some errands and all now," said Mizuno as she ran off in another direction, "See you at home Akari!"

"Okay! Bye," said Akari as she waved at her cousin.

This one is a bit short because of the huge paragraph that's after… in the beginning of the next chapter.


	5. Memory

It's Destiny

So… Anyone want to kill me yet? I did try to fix it so it was a bit more realistic. I like adding in my OCs, so if you don't like, then don't read. I don't think there's going to be any pairings. If I'm gonna add in pairings then I'll let you all know.

Summary: Integrated in the storyline of HnG series so there are spoilers. And as for writing out Go games, that's just impossible for me, so bear with the crappy and technical term less games that I will write. While Hikaru desperately chases after Akira, and show him the 'real' him and not his 'shadow,' there is another who has been practicing endlessly to catch up to Akira. For many years, Mizuno has worked hard to improve her Go in the foreign country she moved to with her parents. Finally, she was allowed to return Japan to achieve her dream of beating Akira the Go prodigy. Her parents sent her to stay with her relatives, the Fujisaki family.

Disclaimer: If I owned HnG, then there'd be a sequel, but I don't, so I can only fantasize.

Chapter 5: Memory

Mizuno sped off in the direction that she was going and finally after some time, she reached her destination, Toya Meijin's family Go Salon. She walked into the building and got onto the elevator, pressing the button for the fourth (?) floor and waited as the elevator went up to the right floor, stopped and opened the doors once again. As Mizuno stepped off the elevator and into the Go salon, she was greeted by Ichikawa, the lady behind the counter.

"Welcome!" greeted Ichikawa kindly, "Is this your first time here?"

"No, I've been here before," Mizuno answered politely as she took the pen and clipboard, writing down her name and a fake level. She looked around the room and turned back to face Ichikawa, "Is Toya-san here today?"

"Toya Meijin should be returning shortly, and Toya Akira will be arriving in just a few minutes," answered Ichikawa, "Would you like to play a teaching game against one of them?"

"Yes, that would be nice," said Mizuno, smiling.

"Which one would like to have a game against?" asked Ichikawa.

"Toya Akira," Mizuno replied, "And I'd like to talk to Toya Meijin."

"Alright, then I'll talk to Akira-kun about that then," said Ichikawa. Just then, the automatic sliding door opened again and Toya Koyo stood in the doorway, and walked on in.

"Welcome back Toya-sensei," Ichikawa said to Toya Koyo. Toya Koyo only nodded back at her to show that he heard her.

"Um… Toya-sensei, this girl says she wishes to speak to you," said Ichikawa pointing at Mizuno.

"What is it?" Toya Koyo asked Mizuno as he looked down at her with piercing eyes.

"A-ano… tada ima, ojisan," Mizuno said quite shakily as she looked up at Toya Koyo. (AN: She said, "Um… I'm back, uncle." For all those who didn't understand.)

"…" Toya Koyo didn't answer right away as he started hard at Mizuno before breaking into a small smile. "Welcome back, Mizuno."

"A-ano, Toya-sensei?" Ichikawa questioned, looking at Mizuno, "Do you know this girl?"

"Of course," Toya Koyo answered boomingly, "Mizuno is a friend of Akira's."

"Oh, but how come I've never seen her before?" asked Ichikawa. It wasn't that she'd never seen the girl before, but also she'd never even heard of a mention of the girl either.

"Yes, Mizuno moved away with her parents long ago," Toya Koyo explained, "Akira has not seen nor heard from her for many years. And neither she has of him."

"Um… Ojisan," Mizuno started, "Do you know it Akira will be coming today?"

"No, I'm afraid I do not know what that boy is up to these days," Toya Koyo sighed. "He may come today if he feels like it, but I cannot guarantee that he'll come."

"Oh," Mizuno said, a bit depressed, "Then I guess there's no point in staying."

"You might, however, find him at his school's Go club," Toya Koyo informed, "He has decided to join in the Go club this once, but for what ever reasons, I am not clear."

"I'll go check there tomorrow then," Mizuno said back to Toya Koyo to confirm that she heard what he had told her.

"Now, Mizuno, I have heard from your parents that you still play Go," Toya Koyo said to Mizuno. Mizuno looked up at Toya Koyo shocked to have heard that he knew she still played Go, and that he'd kept in contact with her parents.

Mizuno nodded dumbly for a moment before shaking off the shock and answered properly, "Yes, sir, that's right."

"Why don't you show me your improvement Mizuno?" Toya Koyo asked politely.

"Um… okay," Mizuno replied, following Toya Koyo to an empty spot to play a small round of Go.

"I'm sure Akira will be very excited to hear that you're back," Toya Koyo said to Mizuno, "It's been years since the two of you have ever talked or seen one another."

"But… I heard that Akira's really umm… consumed with chasing after someone to beat, like a rival," Mizuno sighed dejectedly.

"No matter," Toya Koyo said brushing aside Mizuno's comment, "Every Go player will all chase after their rival, each trying to best the other. You, however, are Akira's friend, his best and maybe his only friend right now. One who shares an interest in Go. I think that having you around again will help Akira improve his social skills as well as his Go. You may even know some things that he doesn't, notice moves that he can't see."

"But that's what the study groups are for," Mizuno protested.

"Mizuno, the study groups that Akira are always attending are with adults, and not with kids around his age," Toya Koyo said, "I think that you can bring him around to a study group full of kids around your age. It will certainly help Akira's skills in interacting with kids his own age and not feel out of place most of the time."

"I guess, but by joining the Go club at his school, isn't that good enough?" Mizuno asked, bowing her head. "Onegaishimasu."

"Onegaishimasu," Toya Koyo bowed his head slightly as he lifted a stone from the bowl and placed it on the board. He looked up and answered Mizuno's question, "I fear that the students in his school's Go club may see him as an obstacle that they must overcome rather than as someone approachable as a friend."

"But what about the insei here?" Mizuno asked, placing a stone on the board as well.

"The insei see Akira as an obstacle or a goal," Toya Koyo explained, placing another stone on the board.

"I don't really have a choice now do I?" Mizuno laughed sardonically, as she placed another stone to gain more territory before the attacks begin.

"It is still your choice," Toya Koyo said. He placed another stone on the board.

"Then I guess that I'll have to find him tomorrow," Mizuno sighed, placing another stone down.

Some time later, Toya Koyo stopped the game with Mizuno and commented on some of her moves. The game that he'd played with Mizuno had shown him all he needed to know about how much she had improved since the last six years.

"Well… how is my Go?" Mizuno asked timidly, not really wanting to hear bad news.

"It seems that you are very experienced when dealing with problems with life and death on the board," Toya Koyo said, looking at the effective way Mizuno countered his moves. "You take your time to think things through calmly and not become nervous when it seems that there is no way out of the problem. That is the one thing that struck me as amazing with such a young player as you, but when in serious matches, then I would not know how you would react. The intensity that is being played at during serious matches can be very choking for most young players."

"But I'm just playing for fun right now," Mizuno said thoughtfully, "I was thinking that maybe I could take the pro exam sometime in the future when my Go is stronger."

"I think what you need more practice on is playing at a higher intensity than just for fun," Toya Koyo pointed out, "This can help you play at your best and helps with getting rid of the jitters."

"Oh, I think that's a great idea and all, but how am I supposed to play that kind of game?" Mizuno asked.

"You may just put something of value at stake," Toya Koyo gave an example readily.

"I guess… but how is my level of play?" Mizuno asked Toya Koyo. She wasn't ready to play at her best, and certainly held back to what an amateur level she should've gotten to if she stayed as an amateur while in Korea.

"It is fine," Toya Koyo said, cleaning up the stones, "Though you are still just a bit away from Akira's level."

"Well, just a bit to go now just to catch up," Mizuno said optimistically.

"Yes, but remember, Akira will still be going up to the top, so you will have to work twice as hard to catch up to him," Toya Koyo chuckled lightly. "I know you can catch up. You have the talent, now you just need to refine it."

Mizuno agreed silently, she looked up at the clock above at the wall behind Toya Koyo and gasped. It was already really late. She quickly stood up and grabbed her bag, bowing slightly to Toya Koyo.

"I'm sorry Ojisan, I have to go home now, or my cousin and aunt are going to be worrying about me," Mizuno apologized as she sped towards the door. "Maybe I'll see you again some time Ojisan?"

"Yes, that would be lovely," Toya Koyo chuckled once again.

"Thank you," said Mizuno, bowing once again.

"Why don't you come over for dinner once in a while Mizuno?" Toya Koyo invited, "Or even just to play? I'm sure that Akira needs to spend more time on things other than Go and let him relax once in a while."

"I'll be glad to come," Mizuno smiled brightly.

"You do remember where we live don't you?" Toya Koyo asked a bit worriedly.

"Don't worry, I still remember," giggled Mizuno, "When should I come over?"

"Why not tomorrow?" suggested Toya Koyo, "You can come back with Akira after his school's Go club is over. You are going there to his school to find him tomorrow are you not?"

"Yes, sir," Mizuno affirmed, "I'll tell him that then."

"Thank you Mizuno," Toya Koyo said, smiling at the bright little girl, the one who had opened his son to make friends with someone of his son's own age. Mizuno left the salon and ran back to the subway, just barely catching the train back to the station near Akari's house.

"She's one happy kid huh?" Ichikawa commented on Mizuno's personality.

"Yes, she is. Happy and lively," Toya Koyo agreed, then his eyes narrowed, "But can be deadly when she finishes refining her talents at Go. She'll be one strong player that the Go world will have to take notice of one day, just like Akira and that mystery child Shindou."

"Didn't she say that she's a friend of Shindou's?" Ichikawa asked.

"Yes, it will be interesting to see how she grows as a Go player around that Shindou," Toya Koyo said thoughtfully. "She may even see Shindou as a rival much less Akira as one someday. Not only that, but having two players like her and Shindou together, they may develop similar playing styles, the same can go for her and Akira's styles. Yes, it will be interesting to watch how Mizuno grows as a Go player. She may even surpass both Shindou and Akira's level."

Well, Mizuno met Toya Koyo after six years, but not Akira. That's next. Well, yeah I have no idea how to write game/match scenes… I don't even really play Go. It's only at random times when I'm forced to play some crappy game, cuz I totally suck ass at it. Yes, she's become a Mary-Sue, so sue me.


	6. Kaoi Middle School Go Club

It's Destiny

So… How was it? I know, horrible. I did try to fix it as usual. I like adding in my OCs, so if you don't like, then don't read. I don't think there's going to be any pairings. If I'm gonna add in pairings then I'll let you all know.

Summary: Integrated in the storyline of HnG series so there are spoilers. And as for writing out Go games, that's just impossible for me, so bear with the crappy and technical term less games that I will write. While Hikaru desperately chases after Akira, and show him the 'real' him and not his 'shadow,' there is another who has been practicing endlessly to catch up to Akira. For many years, Mizuno has worked hard to improve her Go in the foreign country she moved to with her parents. Finally, she was allowed to return Japan to achieve her dream of beating Akira the Go prodigy. Her parents sent her to stay with her relatives, the Fujisaki family.

Disclaimer: If I owned HnG, then there'd be a sequel, but I don't, so I can only fantasize.

Chapter 6: Kaio Middle School Go Club

Mizuno bade Hikaru and Akari good bye as she went in the opposite direction to the bus stop. She waited a few minutes for the bus before it came and she got on. As she sat down on her seat, she took out a piece of paper from the inside of her coat pocket, it was the address for Kaio Middle School, the school where Akira was enrolled in. She smiled as she anticipated meeting Akira once again to have a match with him at Go. When the bus arrived at her stop, she got off, thanked the bus driver and started walking in the direction of the school, which was only five minutes away from the bus stop. As she walked through the school gates of Kaio, many students stared at her and started to whisper among each other. Mizuno stopped and walked up to a group of guys standing around.

"Um… excuse me, I'm looking for a Toya Akira, he's in first year," said Mizuno, "And I heard that he joined in the school's Go club."

"The Go club?" repeated the student, he pointed in the direction of one of the buildings, "The Go club should be around that way in that building over there."

"Thank you," said Mizuno, bowing as she went in the direction of the building that was pointed out to her, and to where the Go club was. As she entered the building, she walked down the halls trying to figure out which room was the Go club, finally, she stopped in front of a door labeled 'Go Club' and knocked once before opening the door and entering. Upon entering, she was greeted by the stares of many of the members in the Go club, mainly because she was not from that school.

"Yes? Hoe can I help you?" said the teacher in charge, Yun-sensei.

"Um… I'm looking for someone…" Mizuno said timidly as she looked down at her feet.

"Oh, is that person in the Go club?" asked Yun-sensei.

"Yes, I heard that he joined this school's Go club, and I wanted to see if he was here," Mizuno explained, shuffling her feet as she looked around the classroom, but not finding a glimpse of Akira in the room.

"Who exactly are you looking for?" asked Yun-sensei.

"Um… Toya Akira," Mizuno answered quite inaudibly. "I wanted to play a game against him."

"Well, he should be coming soon, in the mean time, would like to take a seat and wait?" suggested Yun-sensei, gesturing to an empty seat, "Or would you like to walk around to watch the students play?"

"Yes, thank you," Mizuno said finally looking up at Yun-sensei. For a moment she just stared at him as if she saw something really scary. Finally, she asked, "Are you a Go teacher from Korea?"

"Yes, that's right," said Yun-sensei, quite surprised at Mizuno's question. "Did you tell from my accent?"

"No, that's not really it," Mizuno said quickly, "You just look Korean that's all."

"Ah…" said Yun-sensei, then he asked, "Which school are you from?"

"Um… Haze Middle School," Mizuno answered right away.

"Ah… Haze Middle School," Yun-sensei repeated thoughtfully, "Do you happen to know of a Shindou Hikaru, first year?"

"Yes, he's one of my friends," Mizuno answered, "Why? Did he do something to offend you? Or this school? If he did then I'm really sorry about that."

"No, that's not the reason," Yun-sensei said, trying to calm the overly anxious Mizuno.

"Oh, then that's good," Mizuno sighed in relief. "He's always saying things before thinking things through."

"Well, I think you would like to look around now, don't you?" asked Yun-sensei.

"Yes, please," said Mizuno as she turned to look at the club members. "I'm starting to think that maybe I should've enrolled at Kaio instead."

"Well, the seniors (third years) are over at the other end of the room, the juniors (second years) are in the middle rows and the freshmen (first years) are here on this end of the room," Yun-sensei pointed out for Mizuno as she went to look at the play. First Mizuno stopped by the first years to see how they play, and after not being satisfied, went on over to the second years to see how much better they could play. To her it seemed disappointing that the Go players in Kaio's Go club did not seem to be much, even though they were the most prominent with Go players.

"So, how do you think of our school's Go players?" asked Yun-sensei, as he walked up beside Mizuno.

"I guess that one thing's for sure is that Go is more popular at this school than Haze," laughed Mizuno, "At my school there are only nine members including myself. It's a pretty small club, and a few of our members don't always show because of conflicting times with other clubs."

"Is that so?" said Yun-sensei, replying to Mizuno's comment.

"Our school's club is pretty new, so it's expected," Mizuno explained. "And not many people are as interested in Go there either."

"Well, what do you think of the level of play in Kaio's Go club?" asked Yun-sensei, wanting to know what Mizuno thought of Kaio's Go club, compared to Haze's Go club.

"Well, the Go club has exceptional players," Mizuno said, fibbing a bit.

"Well, why don't we go over and look at how the third years are doing?" suggested Yun-sensei, "I'm sure you'll find that there is really an exception, especially with a select few students."

"Okay," said Mizuno, going over to look at the third years play their Go. She noticed the 'select few' who were most exceptional immediately from their games on the boards and stopped to watch them play.

"I see that you've found our top players um…" Yun-sensei stopped as he gestured for Mizuno's name.

"Oh… It's Shiina Mizuno," Mizuno said, quite flustered at not introducing herself earlier.

"Ah… yes, Shiina-san," Yun-sensei continued, "I see you're quite intrigued at their game here. What do you think of it?"

"Well, I don't know," Mizuno laughed apologetically, "I don't think of myself as much of a Go player. I just play from time to time. It's not much."

"Well, then from what you know, what do you think of their play?" asked Yun-sensei.

"Well, they're really strong," said Mizuno, looking at the board, "And the way they play is—"

The door to the Go club suddenly opened and Akira walked on in, looking a bit flustered.

"Yun-sensei!" he called over to Yun-sensei as he spotted him, "I'm very sorry, there was something in class…"

"Don't worry, I've already been informed about the matter, Toya-kun," said Yun-sensei, forgiving Akira for his tardiness. He then announced for all the first years stand up and introduced them to the rest of the club, and all that. (AN: This small part can be found in chapter 14)

"Now, where can we find an opponent for you?" Yun-sensei said thoughtfully as he looked around the room. Akira looked around the room as well, until someone standing on the side watching a game intrigued him. He pointed over at where Mizuno was standing.

"What about her?" Akira asked, looking in Mizuno's direction.

"Oh, her," said Yun-sensei, suddenly remembering Mizuno's presence in the room. "She's not from this school."

"Oh, then what's she doing here?" Akira asked as he turned to look at Yun-sensei questioningly.

"She said sh—" Yun-sensei was cut off by Mizuno's yell.

"Akira! Mizuno yelled as she saw Akira standing beside Yun-sensei. Akira turned and looked over at her, eyes wide in surprise as he saw her face.

"Eh?!" He squeaked as Mizuno rushed over to where he was. When she was right in front of him, he asked, "Um… do I know you?"

"Eh?" Mizuno said, her face frowning, Akira didn't recognize her? Mizuno explained hurriedly, "Ichikawa-san said that you were going to show up at the Go salon. Ojis— Your father showed up a bit after I did and said that I might find you in your school's Go club."

"But… you still haven't answered my question," Akira said, he was frowning as well now. "Father told you…?"

"Shiina Mizuno," Mizuno said quickly introducing herself once again to Akira after many years.

"Shiina Mizuno? Your name sounds familiar…" Akira said off handedly.

"Of course it does!" Mizuno almost yelled harshly at Akira, "You promised to play a game of Go with me!"

"I did?" Akira asked incredulously. "When did I do that?"

"Okay, let's start over from the beginning," Mizuno sighed and pointed at Akira, "You taught me how to play Go when we were little. I moved away to another country, but before that you promised to play a game of Go with me when I got back from that other country to see how I improved."

"Oh, that promise!" Akira said suddenly remembering. He looked at Mizuno once again and stopped, "Wait, Shiina Mizuno?"

"Yes, that's my name," Mizuno sighed.

"Welcome back," Akira said, smiling at her brightly. "You've been gone for way too long. Didn't you promise to come back soon so you could 'kick my ass' at Go?"

"I'm back now," Mizuno shot back, "And I'm ready to take you on!"

"You two can take this board for your game," Yun-sensei offered the two.

"Thank you," both said at the same time as they walked over and sat down in the chairs.

"And how strong are you now?" Akira asked Mizuno as he took the bowl of stones in his hands.

"I guess I'm okay-ish," Mizuno answered quite vaguely, "I'm not really sure. I never took the time to figure out how strong I am. What about you?"

"I'm still not strong enough if I want to beat someone who's my age," Akira said, sounding dark.

"Shindou Hikaru right?" Mizuno pointed out.

"How did you know?" Akira asked, looking up surprised at Mizuno.

"We go to the same school, he's in my class and he's a friend of mine," Mizuno said, shrugging.

"Can you tell me why he doesn't want to play a game against me?" Akira asked Mizuno.

"No, he doesn't tell us anything," said Mizuno, "He's pretty much a mystery to everyone, even to his best friend."

"Oh," Akira said, depressed once again. He bowed his head as they as Mizuno did the same.

"Onegaishimasu."

And the game between the two started. (Akira-White, Mizuno-Black)

This is it for one of the chapters… And I'll skip the entire game as I do not or rarely play Go myself. My brother however, does play, but for some reason I know more about the rules and all that crap than he does. Maybe because I spent an entire year studying Go problems and rules with the president of our school's Go club…

**NOTE: This has not been looked over since I last went through this…about an year or so ago. This includes the rest of the chapters after this one. I just don't want to repeat this every time.**


	7. Chapter 7

It's Destiny

So… How was it? I know, horrible. I did try to fix it as usual. I like adding in my OCs, so if you don't like, then don't read. I don't think there's going to be any pairings. If I'm gonna add in pairings then I'll let you all know.

Summary: Integrated in the storyline of HnG series so there are spoilers. And as for writing out Go games, that's just impossible for me, so bear with the crappy and technical term less games that I will write. While Hikaru desperately chases after Akira, and show him the 'real' him and not his 'shadow,' there is another who has been practicing endlessly to catch up to Akira. For many years, Mizuno has worked hard to improve her Go in the foreign country she moved to with her parents. Finally, she was allowed to return Japan to achieve her dream of beating Akira the Go prodigy. Her parents sent her to stay with her relatives, the Fujisaki family.

Disclaimer: If I owned HnG, then there'd be a sequel, but I don't, so I can only fantasize.

Chapter 7: You've Improved

At the end of their game, after all the points were counted, Mizuno had lost by a twelve moku and a half with the komi included. Akira was very pleased and shocked at the level of play that Mizuno had improved from when he last played her six years prior. She had indeed been practicing her Go while she was out of the country in the last six years. (AN: Mizuno is stronger than Akira!! She's just holding back her strength as usual. She's already had a lot of experience playing stronger players plus she's gifted. Let's just say that she's just another Ko YeongHa.)

"You've improved," Akira complimented Mizuno as he looked at the results on the board.

"Well of course I did," Mizuno said back, "It'd be really sad if I didn't."

"But for you to improve like this, you must have had spent lots of time playing," Akira observed.

"I went to Go salons frequently for the first four years before I became busy with catching up with my studies," Mizuno laughed apologetically.

"Well, I'd say that all your practicing paid off," Akira complimented, "For an amateur, you're already really strong."

"Hey, Akira, when are you deciding to go pro?" Mizuno asked, after nodding at Akira's compliment.

"Soon," Akira said, "Just as soon as I overcome an obstacle."

"Well, I was thinking that I might want to become a pro as well," Mizuno said. "I mean, at least try."

"That sounds great," smiled Akira, "You would make a great pro."

"But… do you think that I'm strong enough to pass the exam?" Mizuno asked.

"I don't know, why don't you ask my father for his opinion?" Akira suggested.

Mizuno nodded, "I guess that's one thing I can do. The tests here and in Korea are different as well. My insei friends all did very badly and still haven't passed the pro exam in Korea so I'm kind of worried."

"Don't worry," Akira reassured Mizuno's fears, "You'll probably be fine if you just practice some more."

"Maybe," Mizuno said, still not convinced.

"Well, if you really want to know, you might want to take the exam to become an insei and play games with them to see where you stand among them," Akira suggested helpfully.

"That's a great idea and all, but I just don't really have time to go to classes," Mizuno said apologetically, "I still have some cram classes and your father wants me to spend some time with you so we can both relax."

"Spend time together?" Akira repeated, looking up questioningly at Mizuno, "Why's that?"

"Well, maybe to catch up with times and all," Mizuno shrugged. "After all, we haven't exactly been writing letters and all to each other in the last six years have we?"

"Yes, that sounds logical," Akira mumbled to himself. He sighed and looked back up at Mizuno, "I guess we can spend some time together. I can show you around some parts of the city and what's changed."

"That sounds great!" Mizuno smiled brightly at Akira.

"By the way, I heard that there was a Go prodigy from Korea who decided to move to Japan," Akira commented. "Is there any chance that it's some one you know, or if you know who it is?"

"No, I don't know of any prodigies in Korea," Mizuno shook her head negatively, "I don't really keep up with the times in Korea's Go world. I just play Go, and that's good enough for me."

"Well, I heard that it was someone around our age," Akira continued, "The paper didn't have a picture of the person, it said that the prodigy didn't want to be recognized when they got to Japan. There wasn't a name mentioned either, so no one knows who or where this person is."

"Maybe Yun-sensei might know who it is," Mizuno suggested to Akira, "I mean, he's Korean, and he's probably got contacts in the Korean Go world. At least, much better contacts than mine."

"That's true," Akira agreed thinking it over logically.

"Oh, finished already?" Yun-sensei commented as he walked over to Akira and Mizuno's table.

"Yes," Mizuno said.

"Um, Yun-sensei," Akira started. "Do you know about that Korean Go prodigy that was rumoured to have moved to Japan just this week?"

"Yes, I find that quite amusing," Yun-sensei said thoughtfully, "Why would a hailed Go prodigy pro from Korea want to move to Japan for? There really wouldn't be a reason for the move now is there?"

"Maybe that person just wants a change," Mizuno suggested helpfully.

"That's quite possible," said Akira, "But they have a job don't they? And matches to attend. They can't just brush it off as something light unless they plan on retiring."

"Retiring or not, it's still their choice, not ours," Mizuno pointed out.

"Yes," agreed Yun-sensei, "It's a mystery. I would really like to meet this prodigy now."

"Um… excuse me," said a girl, followed by two other girls as they approached Akira and Mizuno.

"Yes, what is it?" asked Akira, facing the girls.

"We want to know if you can play a teaching game with us," the first girl asked timidly.

"Oh, no, I don't really think…" Yun-sensei was cut off by Akira's response.

"It's alright, I don't mind," Akira said, smiling at the girls. The girls brightened up and squealed happily as they each took a seat on one side of the table while Akira sat on the other side. Mizuno got up to let one of the girls sit in her spot as she went over to sit beside Akira.

"So, how strong are all of you?" Akira asked each of the girls. They all answered in turn as Akira told them to put a number of handicap stones on the board.

"What's this? You three girls are going to play against Akira Toya?" said another girl with short light hair as she walked up to the table. "Since I'm the oldest and stronger player, I think that Toya-kun should play against me first. So how about it Toya-kun?"

"No thanks," Akira answered, not even bothering to look up at the older girl, "These girls asked me first. How about next time?"

"Ooh, shot down," Mizuno giggled in her seat beside Akira. "Makes you look pathetic doesn't it?"

"Why you…" The older girl growled at both Akira's decline and Mizuno's comment. She pointed over at Mizuno, "Then why don't you play me? Let's see how tough Haze's Go player is."

"We're not a very strong club in general," Mizuno shrugged, "Mitani-kun is our strongest player, other than Kaga-senpai who played for us once, then he'd be the strongest. Then next would be Kaneko-san, after that is Tsutsui-senpai and Hikaru, and then Akari, Kumiko and Natsume."

"And where do you stand?" Hitaka asked Mizuno.

"I'm just a new member in the club, I don't think I'm that strong either," Mizuno answered modestly.

"Not that strong?" repeated Hitaka, "We'll just see about that."

"I'm serious," Mizuno protested, "Whenever I played against my friends back in Korea, I lost almost all the time."

"Korea? You're from Korea?" Yun-sensei asked, surprised.

"Yes, I just recently moved back from Korea to finish my studies here," Mizuno answered, "My parents thought that I might be able to concentrate better if I was sent to live with my ever studious cousins."

"Ah… that makes a bit of sense," Yun-sensei nodded his head.

"I thought that maybe I should've enroll at Kaio Junior High instead of Haze, but I wasn't sure that I'd make friends if I came here, and my cousin goes to Haze so it would be much more convenient if I attended Haze," Mizuno explained. She then looked over at Akira, "I didn't really know that Akira would be attending Kaio, but then again, it was expected."

"Expected?" repeated Hitaka, "What does that mean?"

"Well, Oji—Akira's father attended Kaio too," Mizuno shrugged.

"Wait, why are we having this conversation?" Hitaka asked Mizuno.

"Yun-sensei asked if I was really from Korea," Mizuno answered, giving Hitaka a piercing look.

"Well, are you going to play a game with me or not?" Hitaka asked, sitting down in front of Mizuno.

"Sure," Mizuno replied, looking over at Akira's shidougo. "I guess I can entertain you while Akira plays his teaching games."

"Entertain me?" Hitaka repeated, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, I did tell you that I'm not a strong player at all, so what am I supposed to do but 'entertain' someone who's obviously better than me at this game," Mizuno rolled her eyes, "It's not I'm able to put up a fight at all."

"Is that what you really think of the extent of your level of play?" Akira asked off from the side, eyes still never leaving the go boards in front of him.

"Well, are you saying that I'm better than what I say I am?" Mizuno laughed, "I only ever got to this level through hard work and practice."

"But you have much more talent than this," Akira complimented Mizuno, "That's what I thought when I first taught you the game. You picked up the rules and game play so easily like it just came naturally to you."

"…" Mizuno did not say anything back to Akira as she turned her attention back to Hitaka-senpai. She bowed her head as Hitaka noticed and did the same.

"Onegaishimasu."

Mizuno went first in this game, placing her stone in the bottom right star point. Hitaka placed her first stone in the opposite star point from Mizuno's.

Klak. Klak. Klak.

The game went on in pure silence, each player focussed on the board in front of them, especially Mizuno. It was a resolve for her to play a bit better and not 'insult' her opponent as Tsutsui called it.

Klak. Klak. Klak.

This went on for a while longer in silence before Mizuno finally decided to speak and break the uncomfortable silence that she felt, and the pressure from having to play a bit more seriously against her opponent.

"You have a really great game here Hitaka-san," Mizuno said a bit whispery that Hitaka almost didn't hear it. "I'm quite envious that you could play so seriously, even against a player like me."

Hitaka looked up, surprised at Mizuno's comment. It was surprising to hear Mizuno compliment Hitaka quite sincerely right in the middle of the game where Mizuno was winning.

And now Mizuno has decided to play a bit more seriously… and that filler in the middle (if anyone noticed) was because I can't think of anything to type… and I usually make my chapters about 6 pages including summary, disclaimer, end notes, and author's notes in the beginning.


	8. Chapter 8

It's Destiny

Yes, the last chapters have been horrible? Tell me if you want any pairings, just no yaoi. I can read yaoi, just unable to write it without bursting out laughing from the weird and senseless crap I write.

Summary: Integrated in the storyline of HnG series so there are spoilers. And as for writing out Go games, that's just impossible for me, so bear with the crappy and technical term less games that I will write. While Hikaru desperately chases after Akira, and show him the 'real' him and not his 'shadow,' there is another who has been practicing endlessly to catch up to Akira. For many years, Mizuno has worked hard to improve her Go in the foreign country she moved to with her parents. Finally, she was allowed to return Japan to achieve her dream of beating Akira the Go prodigy. Her parents sent her to stay with her relatives, the Fujisaki family.

Disclaimer: If I owned HnG, then there'd be a sequel, but I don't, so I can only fantasize.

**WARNING**: I was listening to a very upbeat and happy song while typing these few chapters, so don't kill me if some parts are just weird. Blame the song I decided to listen to: "This Beautiful New World" by S.H.E (title translated as best as I could).

Chapter 8: Reasons

Hitaka had won the game. Mizuno quietly resigned by the middle game when she saw Hitaka focussed so hard on playing a good game against her. It made her feel lame and cheating. While everyone else was concentrating so hard on playing good games, she was dilly dallying and playing halfhearted games with everyone she had played against. And it was for the reason that she didn't want to be noticed or known to be the prodigy from Korea, but as for who she was, a girl who loved to play Go. Her head was still bowed down as she cleaned away the stones from the board before Hitaka could protest. As it just happened to be Mizuno who was winning, not Hitaka. So why would Mizuno resign?

"I'm sorry," Mizuno apologized as she saw Hitaka's mouth open to say something. "I just can't continue the game. It was just too hard for me to."

"But you were in the lead!" Hitaka exclaimed, pointing at the now half-clean board, "Why would you just resign like that?"

"I guess I just don't have the mentality to take to playing a serious game," Mizuno laughed nervously and scratched her head. "And I wasn't playing at my best either."

"Weren't playing at your best?" Hitaka repeated as she put her stones away as well. "What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I just never seem to be able to concentrate on playing Go in the last two years," Mizuno explained, frowning. "I was doing fine until I pas—"

"Doing fine until you…?" Hitaka tried to ask Mizuno what came after.

"It may have to do with your studies," Yun-sensei said logically, "Sometimes those can get in the way of making you play at your best."

"For two years?" Mizuno asked sarcastically. "I really don't that's possible."

"Maybe it's because there's no one your age who you can call a rival to give you that drive to do better," Akira suggested as he finished his teaching games.

"A rival?" Mizuno repeated, confused, "I have lots of rivals. They all keep trying to take me down when I'm up at the top."

"You have a rival?" Akira looked surprised at Mizuno's comment.

"Well, yeah," Mizuno stated, "They're also friends of mine. They're the ones who didn't pass the pro exam. I met them at the salon I used to go to before I stopped playing seriously."

"Exactly how strong are those friends of yours?" asked Yun-sensei.

"They're actually really strong," Mizuno shrugged. She suddenly glared, "They're always asking why I never took the exam to become an insei along with them." (AN: so… anyone want to tell me what the equivalent of a Japanese insei is in Korea? I missed it while watching the anime… I have the RAW version so I rely on my ears and Japanese to understand what's going on. It's a way to practice my ever degrading Japanese.)

"Well, why didn't you?" asked Hitaka, "I hear that the Institutes there are pretty good."

"I don't have time to go to classes," Mizuno explained. The door to the Go club opened once again, and the principal stood there with a student beside him.

"Ah, Mr. XXX, welcome to the Go club, is there anything I can help with?" Yun-sensei asked, going over to the principal and the student. (AN: So… principal's name?)

"This is a new student to our school, Yoon Hae-Won from Korea," the principal introduced, "She's in third year and says that she wishes to join the school's Go club."

"Oh, well, then I welcome you to Kaio's Go club, I'm Yun-sensei," Yun-sensei said, smiling at the girl. "Why don't we find someone for you to play against?"

Hae-Won only nodded and followed Yun-sensei back to where Mizuno, Akira and Hitaka were.

"Here, we have a space here for you to sit," Yun-sensei said as he gestured the seat in front of Mizuno.

"Oh, I'll just find another seat," Mizuno said as she stood up and moved to stand behind Akira. Hae-Won took a glance at Mizuno and pointed at her questioningly. Yun-sensei noticed and smiled in understanding.

"This is a student from another school, she's here to see her friend Toya Akira here," Yun-sensei said gesturing to Akira.

"Oh," said Hae-Won in understanding. She took another look at Mizuno, it was weird, Mizuno looked very familiar to her, but she didn't know anyone in Japan that was Japanese.

"Um… can please stop staring?" Mizuno asked Hae-Won politely, fidgeting nervously under Hae-Won's gaze.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Hae-Won apologized, then added. "I was just thinking that I might've seen you somewhere."

"Maybe somewhere on the streets," Akira supplied for Hae-Won.

"No, I just landed this morning," Hae-Won shook her head, "I did not have time to go around and I also do not know anyone here in Japan."

"Well, then maybe she looks like someone you know," Hitaka said logically.

"No, she doesn't look like anyone that I know of personally," Hae-Won shook her head again. "But maybe more like a face I saw in an article talking about big news."

"Maybe I was just in the picture's background," Mizuno guessed.

"Maybe," Hae-Won agreed, "I'm Yoon Hae-Won. Yoroshiku."

"Toya Akira," Akira said, nodded his head at Hae-Won. "First year."

"Hitaka Megumi," Hitaka introduced herself, "Third year."

"Oh, so you're in the same year," Hae-Won noted to herself. She then turned to Mizuno expectantly.

"I'm from Haze Middle School," Mizuno said, "Shiina Mizuno, first year. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you all," Hae-Won nodded to all three. She then looked at Mizuno for a while before asking, "Have you ever been to Korea?"

Mizuno looked surprised that Hae-Won would even ask such a question. Mizuno was quiet for a while before she answered Hae-Won's question. "Yes, I lived in Korea for six years. Why do you ask?"

"I don't really know," laughed Hae-Won, "I guess it was because I heard from a friend of mine that one of his friend's name is Shiina Mizuno."

"Oh, who?" Mizuno asked, "Maybe I know them."

"I don't know, he's been a pro Go player since last year," Hae-Won said slowly.

"Well, I knew some pros in Korea," Mizuno smiled brightly, "They went to the Go salon that I usually go to so they can practice."

"Well, his name is Kim Sang-Woo," Hae-Won supplied a name. (AN: Okay, I do not know what goes on in the Go world. And the Korean names that I have are names of people that I know, I just mix their last names up.)

"Oh! Sang-Woo! How's he doing so far? Win any more of his games?" Mizuno asked fervently. "He was doing fine the last time I asked him about it."

"Yes, he's still rampaging through the wins, he seems to be on a winning streak lately," Hae-Won chuckled.

"Well, that's good for him," smiled Mizuno, "I always knew that he would make a strong pro."

"But I wonder why they make you sound so uptight in the articles," Hae-Won wondered out loud.

"Huh? Articles?" Mizuno stopped smiling, "What articles?"

"Well, you know, those weekly magazine issues with all the interviews, matches and other little information tidbits," Hae-Won explained to Mizuno.

"What about them?" Akira asked, looking at Mizuno, "Did it say something bad about Mizuno or something?"

"No, nothing like that!" Hae-Won cried, "It's just that Shiina-san was an up and rising star in the Korean Go world, and that she just suddenly decided to up and leave Korea for Japan. The people there are still in a rage about it."

"Why would they care whether Shiina-san left or not?" Hitaka asked her brow arching.

"Well, it's because everyone had their sights on Shiina-san being a great Go player seeing as she showed great potential," Hae-Won explained to Akira and Hitaka.

"So I won a few amateur tournaments, big deal," Mizuno shrugged off, "It's not like it's something big."

"But you retained those titles for three years in a row," Hae-Won protested.

"That's not hard to do when you have insei friends," Mizuno continued, "who happen to be bent on getting some improvement from you."

"That's pretty logical," commented Akira, "They push you to become better."

"Why did you return to Japan though?" Hae-Won asked, "You're very widely known in Korea, but not here in Japan."

"That's why I wanted to return, too much attention," Mizuno shrugged. She then pointed over to Akira, "Besides I wanted to see how Akira was doing. I did promise him that I'd come back and we can spend time playing more Go together just like when we were kids just starting to learn the game."

"So really came back just to relax and have fun?" Hitaka commented as she reached a conclusion.

"Pretty much," Mizuno nodded, confirming Hitaka's conclusion, "I need to relax at times too."

"Alright, it's time to go home everyone!" Yun-sensei called to the students in the classroom. The students began to start packing up the stones into the bowls and putting the boards away into the cupboards along with the stones. The chairs were neatly pushed into the tables and students began to file out of the classroom.

"Come on Akira," Mizuno said to Akira, as she pulled him along to the door. "Your father's expecting us to be back for dinner."

"Eh? Us?" Akira repeated. "Father invited you over to dinner?"

"Well of course he did," Mizuno sighed, rolling her eyes, "I just came back you know. There's still lots that we have to talk about, and of course your parents are probably going to be asking me questions too."

"Ah…" Akira just let Mizuno drag him along as the two of them went of their way towards Akira's home where his parents were waiting for them.

Well, this one a bit screwed up… and yeah… I've been typing non-stop for a while now… Um… yeah, this is the third chapter that I've typed up in one night including that last two. Hopefully this isn't as butchered and I can save what ever remains to be un-butchered by me.


	9. Chapter 9

It's Destiny

Yes, the last chapters have been horrible? I'm still listening to that song.

Summary: Integrated in the storyline of HnG series so there are spoilers. And as for writing out Go games, that's just impossible for me, so bear with the crappy and technical term less games that I will write. While Hikaru desperately chases after Akira, and show him the 'real' him and not his 'shadow,' there is another who has been practicing endlessly to catch up to Akira. For many years, Mizuno has worked hard to improve her Go in the foreign country she moved to with her parents. Finally, she was allowed to return Japan to achieve her dream of beating Akira the Go prodigy. Her parents sent her to stay with her relatives, the Fujisaki family.

Disclaimer: If I owned HnG, then there'd be a sequel, but I don't, so I can only fantasize.

**WARNING**: Blame the song I decided to listen to if this is horrible and the fact that I'm still up late at night typing this… the fourth chapter that I'm typing… in one night!

Chapter 9: Return

As Akira and Mizuno sat on the bus going home, Mizuno looked out at the passing scenery. She would have to be more careful with what she said and did around the Go world now. She noticed that Akira was giving her a piercing look and looked back him questioningly.

"What?" Mizuno asked.

"What did that girl mean when she said that you're well known in Korea?" Akira asked. He was still a bit confused about that one small part of the conversation.

"Oh, well, it's just like I said, I won a few amateur tournaments, kept the title for three years and bam, I'm known as a possible rising star," Mizuno summed up in one sentence.

"Oh," Akira nodded, it wasn't unusual for someone to be noticed if they kept a title for some time consecutively.

"Any other questions class?" Mizuno joked, giggling.

"Wonder what dinner is," Akira laughed along with Mizuno.

"I have no idea," Mizuno laughed, "But if it's your mom's cooking and not your father's then I will certainly have more than seconds."

"But what if I was the one to cook?" Akira asked, jokingly.

"I don't know, I've never tasted your cooking," Mizuno answered truthfully. "I guess that means you'll have to cook for me at least once."

"Why once?" Akira asked, frowning.

"Well, if I don't survive your cooking, then I obviously can't eat your cooking again, I'd be dead from the first and only time eat your cooking," Mizuno laughed, hitting Akira on the back.

"Oh, and what's your cooking like?" Akira asked Mizuno.

"It's non-existent!" Mizuno said proudly as she stopped laughing.

"Non-existent?" repeated Akira. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't cook, period," Mizuno explained in four words.

As they got off the bus and walked the rest of the way back to Akira's home, Mizuno and Akira started talking about what had happened in the years that they had been apart. Good things, bad things and surprising things that happened to them in the duration of six years.

"Ah, we're here," Akira announced as they stood in front of the front doors.

"I know Akira," Mizuno said, rolling her eyes, "I still remember where you live."

"Well, how was I supposed to know that?" Akira asked, "You've been gone from Japan for six years. You might've forgotten."

"But I haven't!" Mizuno yelled at Akira.

"I just said that you 'could have,'" Akira yelled back at Mizuno.

"My memory is just fine," Mizuno yelled once again, this time with more ferocity.

"I didn't say that your memory wasn't," Akira yelled with just as much ferocity.

"But your comment implied that it was," Mizuno shouted with logic to her deductions.

"Implied Mizuno! And I wasn't talking about your memory!" Akira shouted as he opened the door to his home.

"But just saying that I might have forgotten points at my memory being bad!" Mizuno yelled even louder as she followed Akira inside.

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

"Does not!"

"Does too!"

Akira's parents went over to the entrance hall to see what all the shouting was about as soon as it started and weren't surprised to see the two pre-teens yelling at each other like old friends disagreeing on something as small as remembering where a house was. They just watched the two for a while before breaking them up.

"Akira," Toya Akiko called her son. Akira stopped his yelling and saw his mother before saying a quick apology for the yelling.

"Tada ima," Akira said as he took off his shoes and got slippers on, taking out a pair for Mizuno.

"Aa… Ojamashimasu," Mizuno said as she bowed at Akira's parents. She put on the slippers Akira passed over to her and stood beside Akira, whispering into his ear, "Are we in trouble?"

Akira just looked at his parents, trying to read their expressions, but couldn't tell whether they were angry or amused.

"Welcome back to Japan Mizuno," Akiko said welcomingly to Mizuno as she went forward to hug the pre-teen. Akiko let go after a while and took a good look at the grown up Mizuno. "My, you've grown up to be quite a lovely young lady."

"Um… thank you, Obasan," Mizuno looked down from embarrassment. She fidgeted a bit from the stares.

"Why don't you and Akira go wash up before dinner," Akiko suggested, "I've made your favourite."

"Sukiyaki?" Mizuno looked up with stars glowing in her eyes.

"Yes," Akiko answered, smiling at the glowing girl before.

"Yay! Thank you Obasan!" Mizuno cheered and hugged Toya Akiko.

"You did just come back, so I thought it would be great to make something you like to celebrate your return," Akiko smiled down at Mizuno.

"Come now, Akira," Toya Koyo said to his son, "Why don't you take Mizuno and get both of yourselves washed up first?"

"Yes father," Akira said as he motioned for Mizuno to follow him, even it wasn't necessary as Mizuno still remembered where everything in Toya house was.

After the two of the finished washing up, they both went to Akira's room and waited to be called down to eat dinner. As Mizuno stepped into Akira's room, she took a look around and found that Akira's room didn't change much. It was almost exactly like what it looked like back six years ago.

"Ooh! It's Go Weekly!" Mizuno exclaimed as she took up the latest issue and started to flip through it. She stopped when she got to the article about a Japanese-Korean prodigy Go player moving back to Japan. She read through the rather short article fairly quickly and sighed, putting the magazine back down.

"What were you reading?" Akira asked as he picked up the magazine and flipped to the page Mizuno was reading. He took a glance at it and made an 'o' with his mouth. "Oh, the prodigy from eh?"

"Yeah," Mizuno nodded as she laid down on Akira's bed.

"I wonder who it is," Akira said out loud, looking over at Mizuno, "Don't you?"

"Not really, I'm not really in tune with the Go world," shrugged Mizuno, "But if it's a strong player, then I'd like to play him or her."

"It'd be good to learn from a Korean go player like this person," Akira agreed.

"Hello, you're talking to a Korean go player," Mizuno said, sitting up and waving her arms dramatically.

"Oh, yeah," Akira sweat dropped, forgetting that Mizuno was one. "But you're Japanese as well."

"So? I refined my play strategy in Korea," Mizuno fought back.

"I guess," Akira sighed in defeat.

"Do you really want to have a game with that Korean prodigy that moved here?" Mizuno asked seriously.

"I guess it'd be nice to have a match against a prodigy," Akira said, "I've yet to meet a prodigy from a different country."

"Oh, hey! Do you play NetGo?" Mizuno asked Akira.

"Um… yeah, but not much," Akira answered, looking surprised at Mizuno for the sudden change of topic. "Why?"

"What's your username?" Mizuno asked Akira.

"It's 'akira'," Akira answered. He looked up at Mizuno, "Do you play NetGo too?"

"Yup!" Mizuno replied, thumb going up. "My username's 'destiny'."

"'destiny'? Why that?" Akira asked.

"I dunno, I guess I just liked the sound of it," Mizuno shrugged. She pointed at Akira, "And what about you? Yours is even more lame than mine! You're just using your real name!"

"It's easier and faster," Akira sighed. "Besides it's about how your game is, not your name."

"Fine," Mizuno huffed and sat back down on Akira's bed.

"Akira! Mizuno! Dinner's ready!" Toya Akiko's voice floated up to the second floor to Akira's room and both teens answered back. Mizuno got up and followed Akira out and down to the dining room where the delicious food was waiting for them. As soon as Mizuno was on the bottom step of the stairs she could smell the sweet smell of the cooking meat and spices on top. She walked quickly into the room and sat down at the spot she always sat at whenever she was over and waited for Akira and his parents to sit down as well before they started to eat.

After dinner was finished, the Toya family plus Mizuno sat in the living room with cups of tea to drink. Akira's parents had wanted to know how the last six years was for Mizuno and they all ended up in the living room listening to Mizuno telling them of life in Korea and the things that happened there.

"So you didn't go to a Go Institute and improved that much on you own?" asked Akiko. Mizuno nodded. "Why, that's amazing."

"Yes, Mizuno is quite a talented go player," Toya Koyo complimented Mizuno.

"I was thinking of taking the pro exam here sometime soon," Mizuno announced.

"Oh? The pro exam?" Toya Koyo didn't look surprised.

"I just want to know where I stand as in how well I play here in Japan," Mizuno said.

"Yes, that makes sense," said Toya Koyo. "What do you think Akira?"

"Mizuno has improved a lot since six years ago when she just started to play," Akira said. "I think she'll do fine on the exam."

"But I still want to practice some more before taking the exam," Mizuno said determinedly.

"Where exactly is your level of play at now?" Akira asked. "During our game, I saw really good moves that you made but you never actually made any use of some of them. It felt like you weren't playing your best."

"If you really want to see how far I've really come from the last six years, then you'll have to get me to play seriously," Mizuno laughed, "And that's pretty hard. I really don't like to play seriously. It's really stressing."

A bit longer… by one sentence. XD Gonna start off the next chapter tonight as well… that makes 5 chapters typed in one night! W00t! Go me!


	10. Chapter 10

It's Destiny

Yes, still horrible and I'm still listening to that song. There are going to be changes to the original storyline by Yumi Hotta.

Summary: Integrated in the storyline of HnG series so there are spoilers. And as for writing out Go games, that's just impossible for me, so bear with the crappy and technical term less games that I will write. While Hikaru desperately chases after Akira, and show him the 'real' him and not his 'shadow,' there is another who has been practicing endlessly to catch up to Akira. For many years, Mizuno has worked hard to improve her Go in the foreign country she moved to with her parents. Finally, she was allowed to return Japan to achieve her dream of beating Akira the Go prodigy. Her parents sent her to stay with her relatives, the Fujisaki family.

Disclaimer: If I owned HnG, then there'd be a sequel, but I don't, so I can only fantasize.

**WARNING**: I'm up late at night typing this… the fifth chapter that I'm typing… in one night!

Chapter 10: Motivation

"Play seriously?" Akira looked confused, "Why can't you play seriously?"

"Well, I just don't feel like it," Mizuno said.

"Why not?" asked Akira.

"Remember Akira, Mizuno is just like you, she is a Go player who strives to their best, but she has nothing to motivate her to keep going forward," Toya Koyo explained to Akira. "Just like you need someone, a rival, to keep you going forwards, Mizuno needs one as well. You've already found someone you can identify as a rival, but Mizuno still hasn't, that is why she is at a standstill point where she cannot go backward or forward."

The next day was a Monday, a school day. Akari got up early to call her cousin up and got dressed, happily humming a song to herself. While she was brushing her teeth, Mizuno stepped into the washroom as well, getting her toothbrush. Akari looked up and smiled at Mizuno, "Good morning Mizuno!"

When Akari actually looked at Mizuno she gasped to see that Mizuno looked like a mess, and had dark bags under her eyes. "What happened to you?"

"Still experiencing jet lag," Mizuno said shortly before starting to brush her teeth slowly and listlessly.

"Oh," Akari said as she finished brushing her teeth and exiting the bathroom and going downstairs to get some breakfast. Not long after, she went back to the bathroom to remind Mizuno of something. "Oh yeah, I have to get to school earlier today. Do you want to go with me or are you going to walk with Hikaru when he comes by?"

"I'll walk with Hikaru," Mizuno replied through the toothpaste in her mouth, "Still not awake yet."

"Okay," Akari said as she sped back downstairs once again. When Mizuno finally finished brushing her teeth, getting dressed and brushing out her hair and tying it up in a lopsided ponytail beside her left ear, she went downstairs to get some breakfast as well. When she entered the kitchen, Akari was already washing the dishes.

"Oh, you're here," Akari said as she noticed Mizuno walk into the kitchen, "I took some cereal out for you. It's on the table, and you know where the milk is already."

Mizuno nodded as she went over to the fridge and took out the carton of milk and carrying it back to the table with her. She dumped the contents of the cereal box out into the bowl along with the milk then put the milk back into the fridge.

"I'm leaving now!" Akari called from the front as she sped out.

"Okay," Mizuno called back to Akari as she began to eat her cereal. She then remembered what Toya Koyo said about her wanting someone that she could identify as a rival, something to give her motivation to keep moving up the Go world. She shook her head to clear her head of the thoughts as she continued to eat, she didn't want to think about complicated matters right at the moment, it was too much for her head to take. If she thought about it anymore she'd fry her brain from over thinking, and school hadn't even started yet either. Mizuno washed the bowl and spoon when she finished the cereal, then got her school bag from the chair and left the house as well, standing outside the gates waiting for Hikaru to arrive. Not long after Hikaru appeared down the street and Mizuno waved to him.

"Hikaru! Over here!" she called to the bleached bangs haired boy.

"Oi Mizuno! Where's Akari?" Hikaru asked as he noticed that the burgundy haired girl wasn't there.

"She had to leave early for school for the morning duties and all," Mizuno explained as she and Hikaru began walking to school.

"Oh, is that it?" Hikaru said as he walked along the street.

"Yeah," Mizuno said. There was silence between the two before Hikaru starting talking to Mizuno again.

"So, are you going to be joining the Go club from now on?" Hikaru asked Mizuno.

"Yeah, I guess," Mizuno replied, "It's fun and gives me something to do."

"I heard that you're attending that Go class with Akari too," Hikaru commented.

"Yeah, I did, but I don't think I'm going to go to that class," Mizuno said, "I kinda like Go salons more. I'm more used to salons then classrooms."

"Well, everyone's taste is different," Hikaru said.

"Yeah, but I guess I could go to that class from time to time," Mizuno said thoughtfully, "Other than that, I'm going to be going to a special salon."

"A special salon?" Hikaru asked. "What do you mean by special salon?"

"Well, it's a salon opened by the father of a friend of mine," Mizuno said, smiling, "So I don't have to pay when I go there whether to watch or play."

"That's pretty lucky of you," Hikaru commented. "I have to pay when I go to the salons. Hey, what salon do you go to? Maybe you could get a word in for me too so I won't have to pay."

"I don't think so," laughed Mizuno. "You have to be special to get that privilege, otherwise everyone would just get to go there for free."

"Yeah, I guess," Hikaru agreed, nodding his head. They finally arrived at the school just as the first bell rang. Hikaru and Mizuno both started sprinting towards the school, making it into the school in time before the gates closed.

"Phew, safe," Hikaru gasped for breath as both he and Mizuno entered the classroom.

"That was too close," Mizuno gasped for breath as well, "Way too close."

"Yeah," Hikaru said as she dropped onto his chair, slumping against the back of the chair. The door opened and the teacher walked in. The students all stood up, bowed, said their morning greetings to the teacher and sat back down, beginning class.

During lunch time, Akari and Kumiko went to Hikaru and Mizuno's classroom to eat lunch with them. They found the other two friends already seated together along with Natsume and Mitani in their group.

"Hey guys!" Akari said cheerfully. "Wow, it looks like the entire Go club is here."

"Almost, except Tsutsui-senpai," Hikaru said, eating his ramen.

"Hikaru! You have to stop eating ramen for lunch! It's unhealthy!" Akari reprimanded Hikaru as she saw what he was eating. Then she noticed that Mizuno was eating the same thing and pointed at her too. "And you too Mizuno! What's wrong with the two of you?"

"Hey, I didn't have time to make lunch," Mizuno protested, "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"And what's your excuse Hikaru?" Akari asked Hikaru.

"I just like ramen," Hikaru shrugged, and continued eating his ramen.

"Why do I even bother putting up with you two?" Akari sighed as she sat down in a seat and began eating her own lunch.

"I seriously don't know," Mizuno laughed as she finished her lunch and got up, throwing the garbage away.

After school Akari, Hikaru and Mizuno all met up to go to the Go club. Mizuno was unusually quiet for some reason, but neither Hikaru nor Akari noticed this, they were busy talking about Go, and the upcoming tournament. Akari was especially excited that there was even going to be a girls' team participating in the tournament. She was really bent on getting Mizuno to join in a play in first position for their school's team.

"Hikaru? Akari?" Mizuno said unsurely as she approached the two childhood friends. Both of them turned around and waited expectantly for Mizuno to continue.

"Well, what is it?" Akari asked when Mizuno didn't continue.

"Well… um, I guess I'd like to join in the middle school tournament," Mizuno finally said, but what cut off by Akari's gleeful cry before she could finish her sentence.

"Oh! That's great! You can be in first position!" Akari squealed happily, clapping her hands together as she made plans right away.

"Um… actually, I was going to say that I'd like to help coach you, Kumiko and Kaneko for the upcoming match," Mizuno finished explaining to Akari.

"Why aren't you going to play yourself?" Akari asked, hurt. She was confused at why her cousin would want to be on the sidelines cheering instead of being in the game and playing. With her skills she could easily win all her matches too.

"Well, it's more like that I cant play instead of that I don't want to play," Mizuno laughed apologetically at Akari's question.

"But—"

"Come on Akari, with Mizuno teaching and coaching the girls' team you guys will win for sure!" Hikaru said enthusiastically, supporting Mizuno's decision.

"Well, I guess that's true," Akari reluctantly agreed with Hikaru.

"We're here!" Hikaru called as he opened the door to the science lab and walked in with Akari and Mizuno trailing behind him. Tsutsui was already there with Natsume, Kumiko and Yuki.

"Oh, good you're here," Tsutsui said as he looked up to see Hikaru walk through the door. "We were just deciding which three of us guys are going to be entering in the tournament."

"What day is the tournament on?" Natsume asked, "I may not have time."

"It's on a Sunday afternoon, just after lunch," Tsutsui said, looking at the application form.

"Oh, that's too bad," said Natsume, "I have a class that day. Sorry guys."

"It's alright, we still have Shindou," Yuki said lightly.

"I'm not that horrible am I?" Hikaru protested at Yuki.

"Oh, here Fujisaki-san, this is for the girls' team," Tsutsui said as he handed another form to Akari. Akari took the form and started to fill it out. She looked back at Mizuno and sighed as she filled in everything but the spots for the players.

"Hey!" said Kaneko as she walked into the room as well.

"Kaneko-san!" Akari cried as she saw Kaneko, "What are you doing here today? Don't you have volleyball practice?"

"Nah, I've decided that if I'm going to be in a Go tournament then I'd better start working on my skills," Kaneko said as she stretched her arm out. She then noticed Akari's sad look and asked, "What's wrong? Did something bad happen?"

A bit longer by one sentence… and I am now listening to a different song. W00t! It's getting back to being a bit normal now… and there are a few mistakes that I made about the members not supposed to be there and all so I'll just say that I changed that part of the plot. So the time when Hikaru plays against Akira in the school tournament that year, there will also be a girls' team for Haze.


	11. Chapter 11

It's Destiny

Yes, still horrible and I'm still listening to that song. There are going to be changes to the original storyline by Yumi Hotta.

Summary: Integrated in the storyline of HnG series so there are spoilers. And as for writing out Go games, that's just impossible for me, so bear with the crappy and technical term less games that I will write. While Hikaru desperately chases after Akira, and show him the 'real' him and not his 'shadow,' there is another who has been practicing endlessly to catch up to Akira. For many years, Mizuno has worked hard to improve her Go in the foreign country she moved to with her parents. Finally, she was allowed to return Japan to achieve her dream of beating Akira the Go prodigy. Her parents sent her to stay with her relatives, the Fujisaki family.

Disclaimer: If I owned HnG, then there'd be a sequel, but I don't, so I can only fantasize.

Chapter 11: Practice

"No," Akari sighed, "Mizuno says that she won't be playing as part of the team."

"Sorry about that, but I might not be able to make it to the tournament either," Mizuno apologized.

"Why not?" asked Kumiko, "You don't have any cram classes do you?"

"I've already arranged to meet up with an old friend that day," Mizuno explained, "And I can't cancel unless it's something really urgent."

"But the tournament is urgent!" Hikaru cried, "You can't just miss it!"

"Well, I might be able to come watch if my friend wants to go and see," Mizuno compromised, "But I can't play."

"Coming just to watch is good enough!" Akari said.

"Okay, I think I might be able to get him to come watch," Mizuno smiled, "He's into Go as well."

"So, if you're not going to participate in the tournament as part of the team, then you're going to have to help us practice," Kaneko said, pointing at Mizuno.

"I'll only come when I have time," Mizuno promised as she sat down in front of a Go board. "So, who's going first?"

"I'll go first," Kaneko said as she sat down in front of Mizuno.

"How many stones do you want?" Mizuno asked Kaneko.

"Hey, hey, who do you think I am?" Kaneko asked Mizuno.

"Well, Mitani-kun gives you handicaps, why can't I?" Mizuno asked, looking up at Kaneko's pouting face.

"We'll see after an even game," Kaneko said as she took the bowl of stones to her side.

"Okay," Mizuno agreed with Kaneko, "What ever you say."

Klak. Klak. Klak.

The science room was filled with the sounds of stones hitting the board as everyone either played a game or watched the game being played. Yuki played against Hikaru, Mizuno against Kaneko, Kumiko against Akari and Natsume against Tsutsui. Finally, Kumiko and Akari's game ended and they both went over to watch Kaneko and Mizuno's game.

Klak. Klak. Klak.

Mizuno and Kaneko were still at it, each putting a stone on the board one after another. As Tsutsui finished his game with Natsume, he went over to see how Mizuno and Kaneko were doing. When he looked at the board, he gasped and said, "Thi-this… Shiina-san! Th-this is… shidougo."

Mizuno looked up at Tsutsui, surprised, "Wow, you noticed that fast. It shows you've improved."

"Mizuno!!" Akari cried, "Why are you playing a teaching game with Kaneko? Shouldn't you be playing an even game with her?"

"If I did that, then she would've lost long time ago," Mizuno sighed, placing another stone down on the board.

"Lost already?" Akari looked surprised as she took another look at the board. Mizuno was indeed in the lead, and by quite a bit as well.

"I resign," Kaneko finally said as she looked at the board and putting the stone she had in her hand back into the bowl.

"Now, how many stones?" Mizuno asked Kaneko.

"I think that maybe three should suffice," Kaneko said thoughtfully.

"More like 75 would suffice," Mizuno muttered to herself.

"Did you say something?" Kaneko asked as she looked up at Mizuno when she heard her muttering.

"Oh, no, nothing at all," Mizuno smiled insincerely at Kaneko, "Nothing at all."

"Alright, I think I'll take three stones for now," Kaneko said as she placed three stones onto the board.

"How much does Mitani-kun usually give you?" Mizuno asked Kaneko.

"Just about the same amount," Kaneko said, brushing aside Mizuno's question. "I put down a few more stones when playing against him."

"Well, let's see how you do this time around," Mizuno sighed as she started to play once again.

Klak. Klak. Klak.

More time passed and another game was finished with Mizuno still the winner. She sighed and looked up at Kaneko, "I think you need to put more stones down if you want to beat me."

"I don't get it," Kumiko said, "Kaneko-san's already a really good player, and she's put down three stones against you, so why didn't she win?"

"She'll need more stones if she wants to beat me," Mizuno yawned, "A lot more stones."

"Alright then, I'll put down nine stones this time," Kaneko resolved, "If I still can't win with this many stones, then that means I'll have to practice even more."

"Of course," Mizuno smiled, "Practice is the key to improvement."

As Mizuno started off the game, she noticed that Hikaru and Yuki just finished their game and was coming over to watch her and Kaneko's game just like the rest of the club.

"More people to come and watch?" Mizuno said mostly to herself, "And here I thought that you would all go and practice with the tournament coming up and all."

"Well…" Tsutsui started but never got to finish.

"How about I take you all to a Go salon for the next Go club meeting?" Mizuno suggested, "I'll even pay the fee for each of you. Then you can practice against different players like that."

"Well, it's an idea," Tsutsui thought about. He looked around the room, "We'll go if everyone is willing."

"That's a great idea Mizuno!" Akari shouted.

"Are you taking us to the one that your friend's father opens?" Hikaru asked Mizuno.

"Yup," Mizuno answered, looking back at the board to place another stone down. "They have really nice people there and some good players. The fee for children is 500 yen."

"Wow, sounds like you go there a lot," Kumiko commented.

"No, I just heard this from my friend," Mizuno shook her head, "He goes there a lot to practice."

"Is your friend like an insei?" asked Tsutsui at the mention of Mizuno's friend practicing daily.

"No, he's not an insei," Mizuno shook her head once again, "He's just an amateur player right now."

"Oh, which school does he go to?" asked Natsume.

"Kaio Junior High," Mizuno replied, "He's in first year."

"Hey, Hikaru, isn't Toya-san attending Kaio Junior High as well?" asked Akari. "He's in first year too right?"

"Yeah, that's right," Hikaru answered.

"He's got shoulder length hair right?" Natsume giggled. "Makes him look like a girl."

"Who thought of giving him that kind of haircut anyway?" Hikaru laughed as well.

"Um… that would be his mother," Mizuno gave both Hikaru and Natsume a look.

"Oh, oops," Hikaru stopped laughing.

"It's not nice saying things like that about people Hikaru," Akari reprimanded and hit Hikaru upside the head.

"Well, it's not my fault that he looks like a girl," Hikaru guffawed.

"Yes, but do you know whose fault it is that he kept his hair like that?" Mizuno asked Hikaru, smiling an evil smile at him.

"Uh… no, who?" Hikaru asked, but looking over at Mizuno's evil smile consciously.

"The same person who decided to become his first friend that was his age," Mizuno answered.

"What kind of answer is that?" Hikaru blurted out.

"Well, did you really expect that Shiina would know who it was?" Yuki asked Hikaru mockingly.

"She sounded like she knew," Hikaru pointed an accusing finger over at Mizuno.

"We'll see when we go the salon next meeting," Mizuno laughed.

"Why at the Go salon?" asked Tsutsui, pushing his glasses back up his nose.

"You'll see," Mizuno said mysteriously.

"I resign," Kaneko sighed as she put her stones away into the bowl. "Man, you are strong. No wonder Akari wants you to play first position."

"I was thinking that if I played then it'd be good for the team," Mizuno smiled.

"Then does that mean you've changed your mind about joining the team for the competition?" Akari asked hopefully, stars glowing in her eyes.

Mizuno looked up at her cousin with a look on her face and answered, "Well, it sounds fun, but my answer is still no. If I'm caught by anyone there then it'd look bad for the school."

"Oh, don't worry about that," laughed Hikaru. "I was forced to join last year in the team tournament for boys and we were caught at the end. So our school already looks pretty bad."

"Why would it look bad if you were caught?" Akari asked suspiciously.

"Well, you guys know that insei or pros can't enter in amateur competitions right?" Mizuno watched the group nod in unison before continuing, "Well, before I moved away from Japan, I was an insei at the Go Institute."

"Well, that was a long time ago right? And you're not an insei anymore either right?" asked Akari, "So it should be fine."

"No, I'm not risking it," said Mizuno declaratively.

Akari looked back at Mizuno and said, "But then you'll have to promise to teach us so we can get better at Go."

"Why don't you just go to a Go salon and practice there?" asked Mizuno, "I know of a great one. Can you guys meet me there at 2 p.m.? Here's the address."

Mizuno got busy writing down the address of the Go salon and handing it over to Akari, Kumiko and Kaneko. She also wrote it down on pieces of paper for Tsutsui, Hikaru, Yuki and Natsume. "It's also the Go salon that our next meeting is going to be at."

"Okay, why don't we all meet up there tomorrow then?" Tsutsui suggested to the rest of the members. "This way we can get more practice done."

"This address looks familiar," Hikaru said as he looked at the writing on the piece of paper.

"Well, maybe you've been there," Mizuno said. "Anyway, my friend won't be there tomorrow if any of you were wanting to meet him."

Well, this was a bit shorter than usual, but will still suffice… hope it's not seriously butchered that it's not savable from the standpoint. I've had to rewrite entire chapters for this other fiction of mine just to save the story.


	12. Chapter 12

It's Destiny

I'm still listening to that song and some others.

Summary: Integrated in the storyline of HnG series so there are spoilers. And as for writing out Go games, that's just impossible for me, so bear with the crappy and technical term less games that I will write. While Hikaru desperately chases after Akira, and show him the 'real' him and not his 'shadow,' there is another who has been practicing endlessly to catch up to Akira. For many years, Mizuno has worked hard to improve her Go in the foreign country she moved to with her parents. Finally, she was allowed to return Japan to achieve her dream of beating Akira the Go prodigy. Her parents sent her to stay with her relatives, the Fujisaki family.

Disclaimer: If I owned HnG, then there'd be a sequel, but I don't, so I can only fantasize.

**WARNING:** I'm about to fall asleep so don't kill me if there are horrible spelling and grammar errors in here or even missing words and sentences.

Chapter 12: Toya Go Salon

The next afternoon Akari got ready to go to the Go salon that Mizuno had told her about. Mizuno had said that she would go on ahead, run some errands for her mother, and then meet up with them at the salon. As Akari reached the Go salon, she looked up and saw that her friend was already there waiting for her and Mizuno. Akari waved at her as she ran across the street.

"Oh! Akari! Have you seen Mizuno?" asked Kumiko.

"No, she said she had some errands to run," said Akari and she stopped running. She looked up at the salon and said, "Well, I guess we could go in first and wait for her there."

"I guess," agreed Kumiko as she pushed open the door to the building.

As the two stepped off the elevator and entered the salon, they saw a lot of old people in the room sitting around and playing Go. The lady at the counter, Ichikawa, noticed the two girls and greeted them. "Welcome to the Touya Go Salon. Are you two here looking for someone to play?"

Akari and Kumiko nodded their heads dumbfounded. The lady behind the counter held out a clipboard and a pen asking them for their names and their level of play to be written down. The two of them wrote both down, paid the fee and looked around the room for Mizuno's familiar face. They didn't see her, but instead noticed that Tsutsui, Yuki, Hikaru, Natsume and Kaneko were already there.

"Hi guys!" Akari said as she and Kumiko walked on over to where the group was sitting and playing Go against each other.

"Well, finally," Hikaru complained, "Took you long enough to get here."

"Well, we were waiting for Mizuno downstairs, but she still isn't here," Kumiko explained.

"Great. She tells us to be here on time, and here we are on time," Yuki complained, "And she's not here to greet us or something."

"Hey! She still has three minutes to go before she's late!" Hikaru cried, pointing at the clock, and indeed Mizuno did have a few more minutes to spare before it was really 2 p.m.

"Fine, but she doesn't show by that time I'm leaving this little get together," Yuki sighed, leaning back in his seat.

"Would you children like something to drink?" Ichikawa asked as she walked on over to check up on the group.

"Sure! I want some juice!" Hikaru cried out happily.

"Alright, anything for the rest of you?" Ichikawa asked the rest of the group.

"Some tea would be good," Tsutsui said. Akari, Kumiko, Kaneko and Yuki all agreed. Natsume ordered some juice instead of tea.

"Okay, I'll bring your drinks in a while," said Ichikawa as she happily walked away.

"Um, excuse me?" Akari stopped Ichikawa.

"Yes?" Ichikawa turned around and asked, "Is there something else you'd like?"

"Um, do you know of a girl named Shiina Mizuno?" Akari asked, "She was supposed to meet us here."

"Mizuno-chan?" Ichikawa repeated, her brow wrinkling, "Well, if she says that she'll be here, then she'll be here."

"I told you! Just concentrate on practicing your Go some where else!" Mizuno's voice was heard all the way from out in the hall.

"Well, I guess that answers your question," Ichikawa smiled at Akari, "She's here."

"I can come here anytime I want! You can't tell me what to do!" came another voice, it was Akira.

"And I'm telling you that you shouldn't come here today! He's here today!" Mizuno argued as she entered the into the salon, "And it's not really a good thing for you to see him if you want to catch up to his level. Just go home and practice there."

"Fine," Akira sighed as he walked out the door again before turning back and saying, "But you owe me a game today."

"Fine, fine, I'll go by later," Mizuno waved off as she looked up to find that her friends were staring at her. She smiled as she jogged over to where they were, "Hey guys! Sorry I'm… wait, I'm right on time."

"Was that… who I think it was?" Tsutsui asked, pointing at the door.

"Well, how am I supposed to know who you think it was if you don't tell me?" Mizuno asked, scrunching up her face.

"Toya Akira!" Hikaru cried out. "It was him!"

"Of course it was him," Mizuno said, "His father owns this Go salon."

"Really?" Hikaru looked around, "I didn't know that."

"With all the trophies in that trophy case over there, how can you not?" Mizuno asked pointing to a case full of trophies and certificates all to Toya Koyo.

"Well, I don't go and look at that stuff," Hikaru shrugged. "Grandpa's got enough to drive me crazy."

"Why aren't you guys playing against the people here?" Mizuno asked as she looked around to see that everyone was bunched in a small section of the salon.

"Well, we didn't know what to do," said Yuki, "You weren't here to greet us."

"Hey, I said at two, and I'm always right on the clock," Mizuno said, "Never too early."

"Well, what do you want us to do?" Tsutsui asked, pushing up his glasses.

"Well, first we get some players for you guys to play against," Mizuno said, "Playing against different people will help much more than just playing friends or people you actually know."

"Ah, Mizuno-chan," Ichikawa said as she walked on over with a familiar looking man.

"Yes, what is it?" Mizuno asked, as she turned to face Ichikawa and the man, "Oh, good afternoon Inoue-san."

"Mizuno-chan, Inoue-san would like you to play a game with him," Ichikawa said.

"Um… okay, can you find some other players for my friends to play? They need to practice for a team tournament," Mizuno said as she gestured to her friends.

"That's fine," Ichikawa said as she motioned for the group to follow her to where some older looking men were playing games against each other.

"So, how many stones this time Inoue-san?" Mizuno asked as she sat down in her chair.

"Five would be fine," Inoue answered as he placed five stones onto the board.

"Okay," said Mizuno as she studied the board, "Onegaishimasu."

"Onegaishimasu."

After the game, Mizuno went over the game with Inoue-san, going over better moves to play and where and how to play them so they would be effective.

"My, having Mizuno-chan here is such a good thing when Akira-kun or Toya-sensei isn't here," laughed Inoue-san.

"Why's that?" Mizuno asked as she cleaned off the board.

"Why? Well, Mizuno-chan, you're just as nice and willing to play shidougo with the patrons," said Inoue-san, "And help us however you can with out Go."

"It's what's being a Go player is about, helping others improve as well as helping yourself at the same time," Mizuno smiled as she finished cleaning and stood up. "Now, it you'll excuse me, I have to go check up on my friends."

"Go ahead, it's fine," Inoue-san said as he got up as well, wandering over to where Kitajima was playing his game.

Mizuno bowed and walked on over to where her friends were. She immediately went over beside Akari and looked at how she was doing.

"Hm… not too bad," Mizuno complimented Akari.

"Really? I don't think I can beat my opponent, even with the number of handicaps I had," Akari said, looking worried.

"Don't worry, you'll do fine," smiled Mizuno, "Just keep trying to overcome his stones."

"I'll think harder then," Akari said as she stared hard at the board. Mizuno knew it was almost hopeless for Haze's girls team to win against Kaio's girls team in the tournament with the level that they were at right now. Mizuno sighed as she walked over to where Kaneko and Kumiko's games were.

"I think you've improved much from the last time I saw you play," Mizuno said as she looked down at Kaneko's board. Kaneko had totally dominated over her opponent, "Did you have any handicaps?"

"None at all," Kaneko said proudly.

"Okay, now give your opponent a few handicaps and see how well you can do this time," Mizuno said.

"Um… what about me?" Kumiko asked as she pointed over at her own board.

"You've improved too," Mizuno smiled, "It's still not as strong as Kaneko's but you're catching up."

"Really?" said Kumiko happily.

"Yup," Mizuno answered, "You can ask your opponent for some feedback on your play."

"Oh, um…," Kumiko looked nervous.

"Don't worry, they don't bite," laughed Mizuno. "I'll go see how Mitani and Tsutsui-senpai are doing."

"Okay."

"I resign," sighed Yuki's opponent as he began to clean the board.

"You're just merciless aren't you?" Mizuno sighed as she looked at the game on Yuki's board.

"Mercy isn't in my dictionary," Yuki replied, cleaning his stones as well.

"Now give the poor man a huge handicap," Mizuno smiled evilly, "You still need to get stronger."

"I'm strong enough to beat Kaio's first," Yuki said boastfully.

"Kaio's first is a former insei at Japan's Go Institute," Mizuno supplied, "He's pretty strong. Kaga-senpai would probably have a hard time playing against him, and I'm very sure that Kaga-senpai is pretty strong if Tsutsui-senpai said that he could solve a complicated life and death problem that even Toya would have to think about before solving."

"So all I have to do is keep playing this old geezer?" Yuki asked in distaste as he pointed to his opponent. "That's just so boring."

"Then why don't we play a game?" Mizuno suggested, sighing at Yuki's stubbornness.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Yuki said, silently cheering his victory, "Finally, a real opponent."

This is getting sooo hard to write… I think I'm going off topic. Plot, I mean plot. She sounds so much like a Mary-Sue! What should I do? Noooo!


	13. Chapter 13

It's Destiny

I'm still listening to that song and some others.

Summary: Integrated in the storyline of HnG series so there are spoilers. And as for writing out Go games, that's just impossible for me, so bear with the crappy and technical term less games that I will write. While Hikaru desperately chases after Akira, and show him the 'real' him and not his 'shadow,' there is another who has been practicing endlessly to catch up to Akira. For many years, Mizuno has worked hard to improve her Go in the foreign country she moved to with her parents. Finally, she was allowed to return Japan to achieve her dream of beating Akira the Go prodigy. Her parents sent her to stay with her relatives, the Fujisaki family.

Disclaimer: If I owned HnG, then there'd be a sequel, but I don't, so I can only fantasize.

Chapter 13: Tournament

On the day of the tournament, Akari got her stuff all ready and went to meet Kumiko and Kaneko at Kaio Junior High. She suddenly heard footsteps coming down the stairs and turned around to see who it was.

"Oh, you're leaving now Akari?" It was Mizuno, she was all dressed and looked ready to go somewhere. Akari nodded dumbly as she watched her cousin get something to out to eat.

"What's the matter?" Mizuno asked as she looked up to see her cousin looking at her.

"Oh… um it's nothing really," Akari quickly answered, looking flustered at being caught for staring.

"Okay, what do you want me to do?" Mizuno sighed, putting the food down on the table.

"Ummm… well, can you come to watch the game at least?" Akari asked quite timidly, playing around with her fingers.

"Yeah, sure," Mizuno said as she resumed eating, "I have a change of plans anyway. I'm meeting my friend at Kaio Junior High so I'll go there with you."

"Really?" Akari instantly looked up, eyes aglow. "That's great! Are you going to stay the entire time?"

"I'm going to have to," Mizuno sighed, "My friend is part of the team tournament. He's playing third position for Kaio on the boys team."

"Oh, can we meet him?" Akari asked happily.

"Sure, I'm sure he'd like to meet you guys," Mizuno smiled, getting up, "Well, let's go."

The moment Akari walked into the school, she was in awe. The room where the tournament was being held was huge! Akari looked around and found the rest of the team. Both she and Mizuno walked on over to where Haze's representatives were waiting.

"Akari! Over here!" Kumiko and Hikaru called from beside a table. Akari and Mizuno rushed on over to their school's teams. Yuki was playing a practice game with Kaneko while Tsutsui was looking through his book on playing Go. Hikaru and Kumiko were both standing on the side watching Yuki and Kaneko play.

"Oh good, you're here," Kumiko said as she saw Akari. Then she noticed Mizuno standing there as well and gasped, "Shiina-san! What are you doing here?"

"What? I said I was going to come and watch didn't I?" Mizuno looked annoyed at Kumiko's outburst.

"Well, it's just that I didn't expect you to be here before the tournament started," Kumiko apologized.

"Well, it's a good thing that you're here," Kaneko said, turning around, "Now I can get more practice."

"More practice?" Mizuno said questioningly, "I thought I was only here to watch and cheer, not play games and help you practice."

"It's what's being a 'good coach' is all about," Kaneko said.

"Isn't playing against Mitani-kun good enough?" Mizuno complained, "I don't want to play."

"Yeah, Mizuno still has to go meet up with her friend," Akari added in reluctantly.

Kaneko sighed and nodded in agreement, letting Mizuno go find her friend, but making her promise to return before the games started. Mizuno agreed readily and sped off to find Akira in the crowd.

"Ah, I brought lunches for everyone too," Akari said as she held up two big bags and pointed to the other two that Mizuno helped her carry.

"I'll show you to the lunch room," Tsutsui offered as he picked up the bags that Mizuno set down on the floor.

"I'll help," said Kumiko as she went forward and took a bag from Akari. "Come on Kaneko, you too."

"Fine, fine," Kaneko said as she got up and took a bag from Tsutsui. "Let's go."

As they left, Hikaru looked over to Yuki and asked, "So, you wanna play a game?"

"Nah," Yuki said as he walked away to watch the other players. Hikaru sighed as he mentally talked to Sai and started to put the stones that Yuki and Kaneko were using away into their respective bowls.

"Going up against Kaio this time is gonna be really fun. I wonder who their third position is?" Hikaru wondered out loud to himself.

"It's me," a voice sounded from behind Hikaru. Hikaru froze as he quickly turned around to see Akira Toya standing there.

"I'm Kaio's third position, Shindou Hikaru!" Akira said dangerously at Hikaru.

"Toya Akira!" Hikaru cried out as he quickly stood up. "H-how can it be you?"

Hikaru stared at Akira standing before him and pointed at him, stuttering as he spoke. "W-wait a minute, Tsutsui-senpai said that pros aren't allowed to participate in amateur tournaments! Why are you in the Go club? And in third position?"

"Do you remember that you said you wouldn't play a game against me?" Akira asked Hikaru, "You also said that you were going to join the middle school Go club tournament!"

Hikaru was speechless, he didn't realize that Akira would go that far just to play another game with Sai.

"And now I've finally caught up to you," Akira said, finishing his little rant.

"Toya… Akira, you—" Hikaru was cut off by Akira.

"This time, I won't lose to you!" Akira stated rather harshly at Hikaru, his gaze piercing through Hikaru.

"So, this Shindou Hikaru Toya kept talking about, is you?" Hitaka stated rather than ask as she and the rest of Kaio's two teams came up behind Akira and looked over at him. "For Toya to have an opponent like you to go against, I'm sure your match will be rather inspiring."

As Akari, Tsutsui, Kaneko and Kumiko returned from putting the lunches away, Tsutsui saw Akira Toya in the room and gasped. "What? Toya Akira is a member of Kaio's Go club?"

Akari, Kaneko and Kumiko looked from behind Tsutsui with confused and surprised looks on their faces.

"So, he's in third position? Maybe his goal is Shindou…?" Tsutsui thought to himself, "It makes sense."

"Hey, has anyone seen Mizuno around?" Akari asked as she looked around the room looking for her now missing cousin.

"So, you guys are from Kaio eh?" Yuki said as he placed another stone onto the board where he was currently replaying the moves to an old game. "I heard that you guys are pretty strong, but you still lost to Haze once before."

"Who are you?" Hitaka asked Yuki as she directed her attention to him.

"I'm Mitani, Haze's first position," Yuki said shortly. "Kaio's up against Haze in the second match, so why don't you just back down?"

"Eh? This is interesting, you think you can beat Kishimoto then?" Hitaka asked Yuki, smiling at his self-confidence.

"Hitaka!" Hitaka's team mate cautioned the headstrong girl.

"He's probably planning to cheat," Tsutsui muttered, looking away in shame.

"Ah! Akari!" Mizuno called as she saw her cousin and went over, after having no luck in finding Akira.

Akari didn't notice her cousin as she was more concerned with Tsutsui's accusation of Yuki thinking of cheating in the tournament. "Tsutsui-senpai! Mitani-kun would never think of doing that!"

"Tsutsui?" Hitaka repeated, looking over at Tsutsui, "Ah! I remember, you're the one that beat our second last time from pure luck!"

Tsutsui looked frustrated and looked as if he was going to say something back to Hitaka, but at that moment, Mizuno spoke up, as she just came in time to hear the last part of what Hitaka said.

"Tsutsui-senpai didn't win from just pure luck," Mizuno stated from behind Kaio's players, "He's a pretty good player himself, especially during the endgame. That's where his skills are shown."

"Ah! Mizuno!" Akari and Hikaru said as they saw her coming up towards them.

"Shiina-san…" Tsutsui was at a loss for Mizuno's compliment. She definitely knew what to do in that scenario.

"Eh?" Hitaka turned around and saw Mizuno standing there. She opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Mizuno looked at Hitaka as well and her eyes widened.

"Hitaka-san!" Mizuno gasped, "What are you doing here?"

"What am I doing here? What are you doing here Shiina-san?" Hitaka asked Mizuno, her voice finally coming back. "I came for the tournament."

"I'm here for the same reason," Mizuno said, she pointed over to Akari, Tsutsui, Yuki and the others, "That's my school."

"Your school?" Hitaka said, looking over at Tsutsui, Yuki, Akari and the others, "You're from Haze?"

"Yeah, what of it?" Mizuno asked, giving Hitaka a look.

"I thought that your school's team would have stronger opponents, not little first years," Hitaka commented, then looked over at Mizuno, "But with you around, then I'm sure it'll be an interesting match. You are in first position right?"

"No," Mizuno said.

"No? Then second position? You can't possibly be in third position!" Hitaka exclaimed, looking over at the other girls standing to the side, "You're much too good a player to be placed in the last position, or even the second."

"Um, I don't think you're getting it Hitaka-san," Mizuno sighed, "I'm not playing in this tournament."

"What? Why not?" Hitaka asked, "You could easily wipe out your opponents with your skill."

"While that may be true, I just don't want to participate in the tournament, I only came to watch it," Mizuno explained to a flabbergasted Hitaka.

"Mizuno!" Akira called as he saw her talking to Hitaka, walking back to the group from the doors to the classroom.

"Akira! Where were you? I've been looking for you all over the place!" Mizuno complained to Akira.

"Eh? Mizuno? You know Toya?" Hikaru asked as he looked between Akira and Mizuno.

"Yeah, he's the friend that I was telling you guys about," Mizuno smiled, as she pushed Akira forward in front of her. "This is Toya Akira, from Kaio Junior High."

"Yes, we know already," Yuki growled out through clenched teeth. "He already came and challenged Shindou."

"Really? Wow, you're fast," Mizuno commented, "You must be really stoked to play against Hikaru ne?"

"I will not lose to him this time," Akira said determinedly.

"Yeah, yeah, what ever," Mizuno brushed aside Akira's determination, "Just don't regret it."

And this is like two sentences longer than usual! Okay, there is this one page (approx.) that's pretty much all from the manga, just to let you all know. I was having trouble integrating Mizuno in along with translating the text and changing some of the storyline so there would be a girls' team from Haze.


	14. Chapter 14

It's Destiny

I'm now always listening to songs while writing. I have weird sleeping patterns.

Summary: Integrated in the storyline of HnG series so there are spoilers. And as for writing out Go games, that's just impossible for me, so bear with the crappy and technical term less games that I will write. While Hikaru desperately chases after Akira, and show him the 'real' him and not his 'shadow,' there is another who has been practicing endlessly to catch up to Akira. For many years, Mizuno has worked hard to improve her Go in the foreign country she moved to with her parents. Finally, she was allowed to return Japan to achieve her dream of beating Akira the Go prodigy. Her parents sent her to stay with her relatives, the Fujisaki family.

Disclaimer: If I owned HnG, then there'd be a sequel, but I don't, so I can only fantasize.

Chapter 14: Results

It was lunchtime. Mizuno went with Akari and Tsutsui-senpai to get the lunches for the group. Hikaru's match against Akira was already over, leaving a very disappointed Akira and a determined Hikaru. Mizuno didn't bother chasing after Akira after their game, she knew it wasn't something she should get involved in. After all, it wasn't her problem, and Akira Toya certainly would not ask for her help. He would only keep on going forward, leaving Hikaru back in the dust for him to chase. It would not be much longer for Mizuno to be completely distanced by Akira. Asking Akira for game would be easy, but for him to play at that scary intensity, that he played with against Hikaru, with her would never be possible. It would only be in the pro world that Akira would play that level intensity against her. For once in the last two years, Mizuno had a goal to reach, for her best friend, Akira Toya to notice her strength, and recognize her as a respected and powerful opponent.

"Mizuno, you can take these boxes," Akari said as she handed over a few boxed lunches to Mizuno. Mizuno didn't respond, instead she was in deep thought. "Mizuno!"

"Huh? Oh, sorry Akari," Mizuno apologized comically, "I was thinking about something."

"Ah, don't worry," Akari said reassuringly, "Our team will do fine the next match."

"It wasn't really that that I was thinking about," Mizuno said, "It was about Akira and Hikaru's match."

"Yeah… They both looked pretty disappointed," said Tsutsui, "Especially Toya-kun."

"Mizuno… you used Toya-san's given name again," Akari said quietly.

"Well, can't I?" Mizuno asked, "I am his friend."

"You're friends with Toya Akira?" Tsutsui exclaimed.

"Yeah, just like Akari has been friends with Hikaru for so long," said Mizuno, "Me and Akira have been friends for that long as well. Well, except when I moved away to Korea."

"Why didn't you say so earlier?" asked Tsutsui giving Mizuno a look. "You could've told us that he would be chasing after Hikaru for a game."

"I thought you guys knew," Mizuno shrugged, "Both Akari and Hikaru told me that Akira looked pretty desperate to get a game with him when he visited our school."

"What do you mean by Toya Akira looking disappointed?" Akari asked.

"Well, I suppose he was expecting more of a fight from Shindou-kun," Tsutsui said quite thoughtfully, "He was looking very fierce when he was looking at Shindou-kun."

"Well, what we need to focus on now is getting the girls team to the finals," Mizuno said, nodding her head up and down.

"That's right," Tsutsui nodded in agreement, "You girls have to make it as far as you can."

"And remember to still have fun!" Mizuno finished for Tsutsui. "No pressure."

Akari sweat dropped at Mizuno's last comment, "Er… no pressure, right."

"Well, would you have rather wanted me to say something else?" Mizuno asked, grinning at her cousin as she carried the bento boxes over to where everyone else was waiting.

"Then you'd have nothing better to say right?" Akari sighed as she carried her load of bento boxes, following Mizuno.

"Not really, I still can give you advice on stuff," Mizuno shrugged, "Anyways, your next match is against Kaio."

"I don't feel very well…" Akari said, as she shivered on the spot. "Kaio is supposed to be really good aren't they?"

"Of course, if they weren't then they wouldn't be the reigning champions for the inter-high Go tournament now would they?" laughed Mizuno, making Akari feel even more nervous than before.

"Maa… stop teasing her, Shiina-san," Tsutsui reprimanded a laughing Mizuno.

"Oh, come on, it was just for fun senpai," Mizuno pouted, "I just wanted to see Akari's reaction."

"Yes, well, Fujisaki-san, Kaio's team are the most prestigious in Go around," Tsutsui said the Akari, "You must take what ever means to bring their girls team down."

"Including or excluding cheating?" Mizuno joked, placing the bento boxes down on the table.

"Excluding," Tsutsui said, giving Mizuno a hard and piercing look, "If I find out that you try to cheat…"

"Um… I'm not even participating remember?" Mizuno laughed as she took the bento box with a sticky note on top and walked away.

"Eh? Where are you going Mizuno?" Akari asked, calling after her cousin with a confused look.

"I'm going to eat somewhere else," Mizuno called back, waving at her cousin. "I'll come back after lunch to watch your matches."

"Where are you going to eat?" Akari asked, running up to cousin. She looked down at the bento box that her cousin was holding. "Eh? I don't remember making that one."

"Oh, I made this one," Mizuno smiled at Akari.

"Oh, you don't want to eat the one I made?" Akari asked, looking hurt. "And I worked so hard on it."

"It's not that I don't want to eat it, it's just that I'm allergic to any kind of pumpkin, including the kabocha that you used in the lunches you made," Mizuno said apologetically.

"Well, why didn't you tell me sooner?" Akari asked, glaring at her cousin.

"Well, you were really happy while making your specialty that I didn't want to tell you," Mizuno laughed quite ruefully.

"Next time I'll make another specialty for you to eat then!" Akari cheered up instantly.

"Okay," smiled Mizuno, as she turned to leave, "I really have to go now. My friend is waiting for me."

"Is it Toya-san?" Akari asked Mizuno.

"Yup," Mizuno said, waving back to her cousin, motioning for her to return to the cafeteria.

Mizuno bounded out the school, and rushed towards the school gates where Akira was standing beside the school gates waiting for Mizuno. Ichikawa-san was also there, waiting in her car for the two teens.

"Akira!" Mizuno called over to Akira. Akira looked up, saw Mizuno coming over, and nodded at her. When Mizuno stopped and stood in front of him, he finally spoke.

"Took you long enough," Akira complained.

"Hey, I had to help carry the lunches over to the cafeteria," Mizuno defended, "Now that's hard work."

"And you took one as well," Akira said, noticing the bento box in Mizuno's hands.

"This is my lunch," Mizuno said, "You can go get your own."

"And why would I want your lunch?" Akira asked, giving Mizuno a weird look.

"Akira-kun, Mizuno-chan, come on, get on," said Ichikawa from inside the car, "We don't have all day for you two to keep arguing with each other."

"Let's go," Akira said as he opened the door and motioned for Mizuno to go in first like the gentleman he is. (AN: He's freaky polite to just about everyone… and doesn't get provoked easily, that's scary.)

"Thank you," Mizuno mumbled as she got into the car, Akira getting in beside her. It was a while before the two started talking again during the ride to Akira's house.

"So… what did you think of Hikaru's Go?" Mizuno asked cautiously.

"He was disgustingly weak," Akira said shortly. "Like he was a totally different person from just an year before."

"Did he say something to you about his Go?" Mizuno asked.

"No," Akira answered, he thought for a while before speaking again, "But he did say something like 'stop chasing my shadow' or one day the real him will appear before me."

"Stop chasing his shadow…?" Mizuno looked thoughtful, "Maybe a spilt personality?"

"That's possible," Akira agreed.

"But that's not really possible, Hikaru acts the same all the time, dense and happy-go-lucky," Mizuno continued, "And I really doubt that if he has a spilt personality, it would only be his Go playing suddenly becoming stronger… as if he's been playing with hundreds of years of experience."

"Yes, Shindou is a mystery," Akira agreed.

"Just thinking about this is making me hungry," Mizuno complained, taking out her boxed lunch and opening it. The sweet smells of the steam cooked fish, fried vegetables, hot rice with a pinch of seasoning and some other small appetizers rose from the box, floating around in the car. Mizuno looked up at Akira to see his reaction, nothing for a few moments before his stomach growled. Akira's face turned red from embarrassment.

"Hah! Just as I thought you're hungry too!" Mizuno gloated and pointed at Akira's face with the chopsticks.

"I can manage," Akira said, turning to look at the scenery outside the window.

"Sure…" Mizuno said sarcastically as she started to eat her lunch, "Itadakimasu!"

There was a moments of silence before Akira's stomach growled once again. Both Mizuno and Akira ignored the sound emitted from Akira's stomach. After Akira's stomach growled for a fourth time, Mizuno put down her chopsticks and sighed, shoving the box lunch in front of Akira's nose. Akira looked up at her in surprise.

"What?"

"Well, it's blindingly obvious that you're hungry, so just eat already," Mizuno rolled her eyes at him, shoving the chopsticks into Akira's hand.

"But this is your lunch," Akira protested, trying to shove the box lunch and chopsticks back at Mizuno.

"It's fine," Mizuno sighed, "Besides, if I'm still hungry I can eat at your place."

"And who's going to be doing the cooking?" Akira asked, cocking his brow at his childhood friend.

"Well, you," Mizuno grinned evilly.

"Why do I have to do the cooking?" Akira asked.

"Oh, I can do the cooking for you two," Ichikawa volunteered.

"Great! Now that's settled," Mizuno smiled and turned to Akira, "Now eat before you die on me. I don't want to be blamed for not sharing food and starving you while I get to eat."

"And who would blame you?" Akira asked, as he started to eat.

"Um… Obasan," Mizuno said quite grimly as part of an act. Akira just snorted from trying not to laugh.

And… yes, there is only like two sentences that had something to do with the chapter title. I got off topic… and am writing from no inspiration at all.


	15. Chapter 15

It's Destiny

I listen to songs while writing and have weird sleeping patterns due to writing these little fictions of mine. Yes, I am very 'dedicated' to writing these. LOL.

Summary: Integrated in the storyline of HnG series so there are spoilers. And as for writing out Go games, that's just impossible for me, so bear with the crappy and technical term less games that I will write. While Hikaru desperately chases after Akira, and show him the 'real' him and not his 'shadow,' there is another who has been practicing endlessly to catch up to Akira. For many years, Mizuno has worked hard to improve her Go in the foreign country she moved to with her parents. Finally, she was allowed to return Japan to achieve her dream of beating Akira the Go prodigy. Her parents sent her to stay with her relatives, the Fujisaki family.

Disclaimer: If I owned HnG, then there'd be a sequel, but I don't, so I can only fantasize.

Chapter 15: NetGo

When they arrived at Akira's house, Ichikawa instantly went into the kitchen to start preparing food for the two young teens. Mizuno and Akira on the other hand went up to Akira's room to start going over old games.

"Okay, so whose game is this again?" Mizuno asked as she helped placing the stones in the right order.

"One of my father's old games," Akira answered as he placed another stone into place, and telling Mizuno where to place the next white stone.

"Oh," Mizuno just went quiet as she looked around Akira's room. She noticed the computer on his desk and cried out. Akira just looked at her surprised.

"What is it?" he asked.

"You have a computer!" Mizuno squealed with delight, forgetting all about reviewing old games. She got up and went over to the computer, "Can I play?"

"I guess…" Akira said reluctantly as he turned it on for Mizuno. As soon as it finished loading, Mizuno clicked on the Internet button, and typed in an address.

"What are looking for?" Akira asked, looking at the screen as well, as he stood behind Mizuno.

"Going to play NetGo," Mizuno smiled, as she logged in as 'fragmented.'

"Fu-raggu-men-teddo?" Akira pronounced as he looked at Mizuno's screen name. He looked at her curiously, "Why that name?"

"I like how it sounds," Mizuno shrugged as she saw someone named Zelda and clicked to request a game against them. (AN: Yes, she shall play against Waya.)

"What about your old screen name?" Akira asked, looking at her confused.

"It was getting really bothersome," Mizuno replied, "Too many people trying to play a game against me."

"Well, your Go is pretty impressive for an amateur, maybe they all saw you as a good opponent," Akira suggested.

"I guess…" Mizuno said as she looked back to the screen. Zelda had accepted her request to start a game against her. As Mizuno placed the first few stones down, she turned around to see Akira still watching the game. She pouted at him, "Do you mind? It's really unnerving having you watch over my back."

"Oh, sorry," Akira apologized and went back to replaying his father's old games. It was quiet for another while before Mizuno burst out yelling at the screen.

"What?! What do you mean 'who are you?'" Mizuno looked pissed as she replied to Zelda. "The whole point of having a screen name is so that other people won't know who you are. Why the hell should I tell you?"

A sound pinged and another few messages came back for Mizuno. She read them all quickly and replied right away again. The sound of her typing filled the room. Akira went to look at what Mizuno was typing away at and smiled at the conversation.

"Ah… I'm going to the WC," Mizuno said as she stood up and stretched and left the room, leaving the conversation with Zelda still on. As Mizuno left the room, another message pinged up again, this time Akira read the entire conversation that went on between the two.

_Zelda: Who are you?_

_Fragmented: Why should I tell you? The point of having a screen name is so people won't know who you are._

_Zelda: Then, are you a Japanese Go pro? Your server is in Japan._

_Fragmented: No I'm not a pro. Yes, I am Japanese, if not, they why would my server be in Japan?_

_Zelda: Then are you an insei? I'm an insei._

_Fragmented: No, but I might take the next test._

_Zelda: Where?_

_Fragmented: Tokyo. That's all I'm telling you._

_Zelda: Are you a guy or a girl?_

_Fragmented: Why? It doesn't concern the game does it?_

_Zelda: Just want to know. Maybe I'll bump into you sometime._

_Fragmented: Yeah right._

_Zelda: It's just a simple question._

Akira's grin wider as he read the interesting conversation between the two players. He saw that another message had popped up by the time that he finished reading the conversation.

_Zelda: Hello? Are you even there?_

Akira decided to reply for Mizuno, seeing as she was in the WC at the time.

_Fragmented: I'm sorry but my friend just stepped out for a while._

_Zelda: Oh, sorry about that._

_Fragmented: No worries. I'm sorry about her little out burst a while ago. She's really a nice girl, just cautious about revealing her identity to strangers._

_Zelda: Oh, your friend's a girl? She's really good at Go._

_Fragmented: Yes, that's right._

_Zelda: Hey, do you play Go? Wanna play against me?_

_Fragmented: Oh, sorry, she's back._

Mizuno walked back into the room just as Akira finished replying to Zelda. She looked at him, then at the screen, reading the short conversation between the two.

"Oh, thanks," Mizuno said to Akira, "Guess I should've closed the box first."

"It's fine," Akira said, "Still want to talk to the person?"

"Nah," Mizuno shook her head as she closed the dialogue box and looked for her next opponent.

"So why don't you use your other account anymore?" Akira asked Mizuno as she looked down the list of players online.

"I wanted a new screen name," Mizuno said sheepishly as she logged out and logged in once again but as 'destiny,' her old screen name. The screen was immediately filled with requests to play against her from many people on the list. Akira just stared at the screen, it was filled with request boxes, all of which Mizuno declined one by one. Finally, she was down to the last few. The screen name caught Akira's notice, it was Zelda, the person Mizuno was playing just before with her other account.

"So is this what you mean by 'bothersome'?" Akira asked, nodding at the screen, "All the requests?"

"Why, aren't you the observant one?" Mizuno said sarcastically at Akira as she looked away from the screen and accidentally clicked on 'Accept' to play against Zelda. She turned back to the screen and her face fell, she turned around once again and glared at Akira.

"Now look what you made me do!" She cried at him. She got off the seat and had Akira sit down, facing the screen, "Now you play!"

Akira just glared back at her, shaking his head no. Mizuno glared back, "Just this one game. Besides, that person wanted to play against you right? So this is a good chance for you to play him."

"Fine, just this once," Akira growled as he placed the first stone down. Zelda resigned before the two of them entered yose, and a message popped up for Akira.

_Zelda: You really are good!_

Akira looked up to Mizuno as if waiting for her permission to reply back. Mizuno just nodded as Akira typed in a reply.

_Destiny: Thank you._

_Zelda: But… somehow your play is different today._

Akira panicked as he looked up at Mizuno. Mizuno just shrugged as she took over and typed in a reply to Zelda.

_Destiny: How?_

_Zelda: Well, I've watched most of your games, and today you just seemed to have played like a different person._

_Destiny: A different person? Who?_

_Zelda: It reminded me of the way Toya Akira plays. You know, Toya Meijin's son?_

_Destiny: Um…_

_Zelda: …?! No way! Are you… Toya Akira?_

_Destiny: Who? The one who played you or the one talking to you?_

_Zelda: …? The one who I played._

_Destiny: Ah… yes, that was Toya Akira, but this is my account._

_Zelda: Then who are you? Why would Toya Akira play NetGo?_

_Destiny: He stepped in for me while I was 'unavailable'._

Akira quickly closed the dialogue box and signed Mizuno out, sighing as that conversation was over with. Mizuno just gave him a look.

"What?" he asked, looking back at Mizuno.

"Why'd you close it so suddenly?" Mizuno demanded as she shut down the computer.

"If you had gone on with the conversation any longer, then you'd have given yourself more attention," Akira reasoned.

"That's why I have another account," Mizuno rolled her eyes.

"Still, I think you shouldn't have given that person too much information about yourself, or me," Akira said, leaning back in the chair.

"Akira! Mizuno! Time to eat!" Ichikawa's voice was heard from inside Akira's room.

"Okay! We're coming!" Akira yelled back to let Ichikawa know they heard her. He motioned for Mizuno to get up and go downstairs to eat. Mizuno immediately went to wash up before going downstairs to eat, Akira did the same. The two of them walked down the stairs, following the sweet scent of deliciously cooked food to the kitchen. The two of them sat down in chairs at the table.

"Itadakimasu!" both said before they started to eat hungrily.

When they were finished, Mizuno and Akira both helped Ichikawa wash the dishes and dry them. Though Mizuno was constantly checking the clock in the kitchen for the time. Finally, when it was close to 1:00 p.m. she gasped and quickly went to the front door.

"What is it Mizuno?" Akira asked, watching Mizuno putting her shoes on hastily.

"I promised my cousin that I'd go watch her play against the other schools in the inter-high Go tournament," Mizuno gasped out as she got up and reached for her bag.

"I'll ask Ichikawa-san to drive you there," Akira said as he went back into the kitchen. Ichikawa immediately agreed to drive Mizuno back, but was a bit reluctant to leave Akira all alone.

"I'll come back after the tournament," Mizuno said as she waved good-bye to Akira, following Ichikawa to the car.

"Okay," Akira said walking with them to the front gates, "Are you going to stay for dinner again?"

"No, I promised my cousin to play a game with her today," Mizuno shook her head as she got into the car.

W00t! I stayed with NetGo thingy until page four… yay! Go me! Though having long conversation is not what Waya would probably do…


End file.
